"None; but I shall come to no harm. My star is in the ascendant now. If it leads me into danger it will bring me safely out of it. _Au revoir!_" Then I sprang into the carriage and was driven swiftly away. Our journey came to a sudden end, and, if I was surprised at the locality into which it had brought me, I was still more so at its termination. The carriage had stopped outside a gloomy-looking warehouse, the back of which, ornamented with several cranes, overlooked the river. The whole of the front appeared to be in darkness, but from a gas-lamp on the other side of the narrow way I could read the brass sign-plate by the side of the door: HIGGENSON AND CO. Merchants and Exporters. The door of the carriage was thrown open and I was evidently expected to descend. I did so after a moment's hesitation. "Are you sure that you have brought me to the right place?" I asked the man who held the door open. "This seems to be a warehouse. I think there must be some mistake." The man silently closed the carriage door and stepped up to his seat beside the driver. "There is no mistake," he said curtly. "You will find the Count de Cartienne--there." He pointed to the warehouse door and I saw that it was now open and that a man was standing upon the threshold. I turned towards him doubtfully. "Will you come this way, Mr. Morton?" he said. "Count de Cartienne is sorry to have to bring you here, but we are busy--very busy, and he had no time to get back to the hotel. The carriage will wait to take you back." The man's manner and tone were certainly not those of a servant, but from the position in which he stood I could see nothing save the bare outline of his figure. I crossed the pavement towards him. We left the room and he conducted me down a passage and into a small chamber. Here my companion paused and lit a lamp which stood on a table in the middle of the room. "Count de Cartienne will be with you in a moment," he said, walking to the door. "Kindly excuse me." I turned the lamp a little higher and looked around. The room was quite a small one and plainly furnished as a waiting-room. For the first time I began to realise fully what I had done in coming to this place at such an hour. Some wild thoughts of a tardy retreat flashed into my mind, and I tried the handle of the door by which we had entered. It turned, but the door remained closed. I stooped down and examined it. The result was as I had feared--a spring lock had fastened it. I tried the other door, by which my guide had issued. The result was the same. I was a prisoner. I had scarcely time to realise my position before it became necessary to act. The door was suddenly opened and Count de Cartienne stood before me, his eyes flashing with anger and his tall, lithe frame quivering with rage. "Why have you not brought that box?" he exclaimed in a low, fierce tone.