Jacob Strelitzki had vanished. He disappeared on the night of the fire, after having seen his plans ripe for consummation, and all efforts to trace him were made in vain. He was wanted for the official inquiry; but it was probably in order to escape this that he had gone away. In his absence, Horwitz was made to act as scape-goat; even the factory people themselves laying the blame on him. But he too put all the mischief down to the bad influence of his brother-in-law, Strelitzki; and, in common with his fellow-workers, escaped with a severe censure and nothing more. If Strelitzki returned he would be arrested on the charge of incendiarism; but it was not likely that he would do so, especially as his wife and child left Durlston a few weeks later, their destination unknown. Herbert Karne made slow progress towards recovery. At first he seemed, as the doctor feared he would be, thoroughly prostrated by the shock to the system; and his convalescence was attended by a fit of nervous depression most difficult to combat. It was, no doubt, due to the discouraging fact that three out of the four pictures for the Duke of Downshire’s chapel would have to be done over again, thus entailing months of wasted labour. He greatly regretted, also, the destruction by fire of the best picture he had possessed of his and Celia’s mother, which had occupied the most prominent position in the studio. He had often imagined that this picture--the beautiful face with its coronet of bronze-gold hair so like Celia’s, the dark eyes, the smiling lips--had proved a source of inspiration to him when engaged at his work; and without it, the studio, when rebuilt, would look incomplete. Celia was due at the Havilands’ house in St. John’s Wood the week after the fire; and although she would much have preferred to stay and nurse her brother, she found herself unable to cancel her engagement. As the time drew near she began to wish that she had not consented to become a temporary actress--for that was what it amounted to. Taking Enid Wilton’s advice, she wrote a letter to that effect to Mr. Guy Haviland, and received an answer by return. The dramatist begged her not to disappoint him; for he had quite set his heart on her filling the _rôle_ of Mallida, the chief character in the play; and arrangements for its production had been fully planned. So there was nothing for it but to submit; and having decided to go through with the venture, Celia made up her mind to do her very best.