Westerham had foreseen the possibility of this answer, and had made up his mind as to how he should meet it if it came. He saw that he could not extort a statement from Melun there, and was resolved on a different method. Without a word—and he knew that his silence would cause Melun the deepest anxiety—he rose and left the box. He waited patiently till the end of the performance and then succeeded in following Melun into the street. As he had counted on his doing, Melun took a hansom and drove away with Mme. Estelle. Westerham followed. The hansom in front of him bowled quickly along Piccadilly, turned up Berkeley Street, and then made at a good pace for Davies Street. Here Melun alighted, and having said “Good-night!” to Mme. Estelle, let himself into a small private hotel with a latch-key. Westerham, who had passed Melun's cab, stopped his own further up the street and marked the house from the little window at the back of the hansom. He was satisfied. He immediately ordered the man to turn about and drive to Dunton's room. Dunton was sitting before a fire, enjoying a pipe before he turned in. Westerham immediately plunged into every detail of his story which he dared disclose and still keep faith with Lady Kathleen. Dunton heard him out with open-mouthed wonder. Next Westerham proceeded to explain to Dunton the counter-move against Melun which he intended to put into execution on the morrow. When he had finished speaking, Dunton rocked on his chair with laughter, as though delighted beyond measure with the proposal. And certainly Dunton had some justification for his merriment, for what Westerham proposed, gravely and of fixed purpose, was the kidnapping of the Prime Minister. CHAPTER XIX THE CAPTURE OF LADY KATHLEEN It was for very excellent reasons that Melun had not driven up to St. John's Wood to fetch Mme. Estelle to the Empire; and his caution in other matters thus saved him from an unpleasant cross-examination concerning Kathleen. It is true that when Westerham had left the box Madame made several efforts to broach the subject, but Melun succeeded in steering clear of the matter until after they had left the theatre. As, however, the cab proceeded to Davies Street she made a further attempt to pin him down to the subject. But again Melun evaded it. Few men knew better than Melun the damage that could be done one by a jealous woman, and as he sat alone that night over his whisky-and-soda, the obvious signs of jealousy which Marie had shown him caused him great disquiet. From Madame, however, he turned to the more important business of deciding what he should do to bring the Premier to his knees without further delay. And it was a strange coincidence that just as Westerham was explaining to Lord Dunton his scheme for kidnapping the Prime Minister, Melun hit upon the plan of abducting Lady Kathleen as the surest means of inducing Lord Penshurst to surrender.