"Take that; I brought two," whispered Carmontelle. "We may need them. One of us must stand at bay, while the other seizes and bears away the girl." "It shall be I. I will cover your flight," Van Zandt said, quietly. Under his calm exterior was seething a tempest of wrath and indignation that made him clutch the weapon in a resolute grasp. He had pure and fair young sisters at home. The thought of them made him feel more strongly for madame's forlorn victim. Their hearts leaped into their throats as Remond's close carriage dashed into sight, whirled up to madame's door, and stopped. The door swung open, and Remond, muffled up to the ears, sprung out and went up to the house. Its portals opened as if by magic, with a swish of silken robes in the hall. Madame herself had silently admitted her co-conspirator. Most fortunately the back of the carriage was toward the tree, and the driver's attention was concentrated upon his restive horses. Silently as shadows the two men slid down from their novel hiding-place, tiptoed across the pavement, and took up their grim station on either side the closed door. Not a moment too soon! At that very instant the door unclosed, and Remond appeared upon the threshold bearing in his arms a slight, inert figure wrapped in a long, dark cloak. Madame, still in her diamonds, roses, and silvery drapery, appeared behind him just in time to see a powerful form swoop down upon Remond, wrest his prize from him, and make off with wonderful celerity, considering the weight of the girlish form in his arms. She fell back with a cry of dismay. "_Diable_! _Spies_!" Remond had recoiled on the instant with a fierce oath hissed in his beard--only an instant; then he dashed forward in mad pursuit, only to be tripped by an outstretched foot that flung him face downward on the hard pavement. Scrambling up in hot haste, with the blood gushing from his nostrils, he found his way barred by Eliot Van Zandt. "Back, villain! Your prey has escaped you!" the young man cried, sternly. A black and bitter oath escaped Remond, and his trembling hand sought his belt. He hissed savagely: "Accursed spy! Your life shall answer for this!" Then the long keen blade of a deadly knife flashed in the moonlight. Simultaneously there was the flash and report of a pistol. Both men fell at once to the ground, and at the same moment there was a swish and rustle of silvery silk, as beautiful Mme. Lorraine retreated from her threshold, slamming and locking her door upon the sight of the bloodshed of which she had been the cause. "Let them kill each other, the fools, if they have no more sense," she muttered, scornfully, heartlessly, as she retired to her salon.