There were other people in the church. She could just distinguish them, two in each pew, a silent, ghostly congregation, none speaking to the other. Presently the man who had admitted her came into the church and walked to the altar rails, and at the first words she knew that the servants of the Crimson Circle sat in the presence of their master. His voice was low and muffled and hollow; she guessed he wore the veil she had seen over his head the first night she had met him. “My friends,” he said, and she heard every word, “the time has come when our society will be dispersed. You have read my offer in the public press; and you are interested to this extent, that I intend distributing at least twenty per cent. of the money which the Government must eventually give me amongst those who have served me. If there are any here who are nervous that we shall be interrupted, let me assure them that the police patrol does not pass for another quarter of an hour, and that it is quite impossible for the sound of my voice to reach outside the church.” He raised his voice a little, and there was a hard note in it when he added: “And to those who may have treachery in their hearts, and imagine that so widely announced a meeting might bring about my undoing, let me say that it is impossible that I shall be captured to-night. Ladies and gentlemen, I will not disguise from you that we are in considerable danger. Facts which may enable the police to identify me have on two occasions almost come to light. I have upon my tracks, Derrick Yale, who I will not deny is a source of considerable anxiety to me, and Inspector Parr”--he paused--“who is not to be despised. In this supreme moment I do not hesitate to call upon every one of you for an extraordinary effort of assistance. To-morrow you will each receive operation orders prepared in such detail that it will be impossible for you to misunderstand any particular requirement I have made known. Remember that you are as much in danger as I,” he said more softly, “and your reward shall be correspondingly great. Now you will pass out of the church one by one, at thirty seconds interval, beginning with the first two on the right, continuing with the first two on the left. Go!” At intervals these dark figures glided along the aisle and vanished through the door to the left of the pulpit. The man at the chancel rails waited until the church was empty and then he, too, passed through the door into the lobby and into the passage. He locked the outer door and slipped the key into his pocket. The church clock was booming the half-hour when he called a taxi-cab and was driven westward.