"Choked him a little!" said the General with a grim chuckle. "You don’t seem to have left much life in him, but it was no case for standing on ceremony. And now, madam," continued the veteran, facing round to where Beaumanoir stood with his grip on Ziegler’s collar, "your disguise need hamper you no longer—that is, if you prefer to finish this business in your own person. Get the pull of your sex, you know." "Yes, I guess that wig doesn’t do justice to Cora Lestrade," interjected Senator Sherman, and with a dexterous twirl of his wrist he jerked off the elaborate head-gear which had effectually transformed the dashing lady known as Mrs. Talmage Eglinton into a repulsive old man. But it was only when feminine instinct had prompted her with a swift application of her handkerchief to remove the purple stain that had added the semblance of disease to old age that the Duke recognized his guest. "I do not understand," he murmured, feebly. And it seemed that Alec Forsyth, in spite of the part entrusted to him in the comedy of the crypt, had been ignorant of the identity of his antagonist, for a cry of astonishment escaped him. On the other hand, the demure smile that played round Sybil Hanbury’s pretty mouth betokened a closer intimacy with the foregoings of this wonderful development. Forsyth’s sharp exclamation had the effect of rousing Azimoolah’s captive from his swoon. The man raised himself on his elbow, and, grasping the situation, remained quietly watchful. "And now, your Grace, before another word is said, let me shake you by the hand right here, and thank you for all the patient courage you have shown and all the danger you have incurred to baffle as waspish a gang as ever hailed from my side of the ditch," said the Senator, suiting the action to the word, greatly to the embarrassment of the Duke, and provoking a scornful laugh from the fantastic figure in male attire. "Why, he was one of us," she sneered. "It was only when he found he had something to lose that he backed out." The Senator looked her up and down with a fine contempt. "So much for a great reputation," he said. "My good Lestrade, the warders who told me you were the cleverest woman in Sing-Sing must have made a grievous error, for a really clever criminal would never have been cornered by a brave man pretending to join the confederacy. The Duke has not tripped once all through the affair, except that he has been a little too reckless in exposing his valuable life to peril. The result of his heroic conduct is that you are outwitted all along the line, and that the three millions are secure in that safe."