"Turn him loose. Get shed of him. It 'll simplify matters. I 'm getting this thing in hand now. Push the thing through for me, will you, Joe? I'm busy as a pup here. Get Bill Rawlins on the long distance at the Boston Navy Yard, explain things to him, and get him to help. There 's nothing to do. Just have him seen on board the boat. That note was all I wanted. Have that sent to me. Now do it all nicely for me, won't you, old chap,--and a day or two will see the finish of the whole thing. Oh, say,--have them hold those papers." "All right," said Thornton. "By the way, we are going to torpedo the Atlantic fleet tonight. The battleships are on their way down from Provincetown at last." "Pshaw! The one thing I wanted to be in on!" "Can't you get off and come along on the _D'Estang_? We shan't leave until eight o'clock. We 're going to try and do up the fleet off Point Jude. Come on, like a good chap." "I 'd like to. I will if I can, you bet. I think I can work it. Now s'long and don't forget to have that Pole shunted out of the country on the jump." "I won't. Don't worry; see you later then." "Right-o, good-bye." As Armitage hung up the receiver the bell of the house 'phone jingled and Armitage was summoned to bring out the car in a hurry. When he arrived under the _porte cochere_, Prince Koltsoff was still talking to Anne in a corner of the library. "It is very necessary," he was saying. "The summons is important. It is even possible I shall not return all night." His agitation seemed momentarily increasing. "But, Prince Koltsoff," said Anne, "is it so very important? I hardly know what to do. I have arranged a box party for the vaudeville at Freebody to-night--it's distressing." Koltsoff bowed. "And I! You cannot suppose I view lightly being away from you to-night!" He shrugged his shoulders. "The rose-strewn paths are not always for diplomats. You will know that better in good time, perhaps. But they are for that all the sweeter while we tread them." He moved very close to her and she, taking fire from his mood, did not step backward, looking him in the eyes, pulling slightly at the front of her skirt. In the very web of a mood which she felt bordered on surrender to the masculine personality of the man before her, she admitted a thrill, which she never before had recognized. The blood mounted swiftly to her temples and she straightened and threw her head back with lips parted and hot. His face came so close to hers that she felt his hot breath. "Are you sorry for this afternoon?" he asked caressingly. "Yes," her voice was a half whisper. His arms were raising to take her, when the voice of Sara Van Valkenberg came to their ears, with an effect very much like a cold stream upon a bar of white hot steel.