"Here, before you, you have some small souvenirs--some small idea of the weapons which the unscrupulous fiends who are our enemies are using against our gallant troops. They, unfortunately, are not gallant soldiers, these Huns in modern clothing--they are pirates with the skull and crossbones borne upon the helmets of their crack regiments. Yet we shall win--I tell you that we shall win, be the time long or short, be the sacrifice great or small--we shall win because Right, Truth, and God's justice are with us! And I will here give you a message from the Prime Minister--who would have been here, if it were not for the fact that he is at this moment having audience of His Majesty the King." A great roar of applause greeted this announcement, when, suddenly, a loud explosion sounded, startling everyone and causing women to scream. The lovers, who had kept their eyes upon the man in the overcoat, saw a red flash, and saw him reel and fall to earth with his face blown away. They had seen how he had placed the grenade over his ash-stick, and how, a second later, he had sharply slung it across from right to left, intending the deadly bomb to land at Mr Merton Mansfield's feet. Instead, with its fuse set by the little points of steel protruding from the stick, it had, nevertheless, failed to pass from the stick, because of the small piece of thin wire which Seymour Kennedy had driven through just above the ferrule, on that night when he had afterwards left the stick at old Drost's front door. His quick intelligence had shown him that the empty grenade had already been tried upon the stick, and that when filled, and the fuse attached, it certainly would not be tested again. Hans Rozelaar had slung the grenade just as old Theodore Drost had instructed him, but it had remained fast at the end of the stick, and ere he could release it, it had exploded, blowing both his hands off and his features out of all recognition, though, very fortunately, injuring no one else. "Come, darling. We have surely seen enough!" whispered Seymour Kennedy softly to Ella, as they watched the great sensation caused by the self-destruction of the conspirator, and the hurry of the police towards the dead man. "The Ministers will very soon discover for themselves how narrowly they have escaped." And as they both turned away, Ella, looking fondly into her lover's face, remarked in a low voice: "Yes, indeed, Seymour. They certainly owe their safety to you!" CHAPTER FOUR. THE EXPLOSIVE NEEDLE. "Then you suspect that another plot is in progress, Ella?" "I feel confident of it. The Count is furious at the failure of the conspiracy against Mr Merton Mansfield. He came to see father last night. I did not gather much, as I had to get away to the theatre, but I overheard him suggest that some other method should be tried," replied Ella Drost. She was sitting in the dainty little drawing-room of the flat in Stamfordham Mansions, chatting with her airman lover.