At length, no further excuse for remaining would serve, and at half-past nine they rose to go. For Ruxton it was the passing of an important milestone on his journey through life. There remained no longer any doubt of his feelings. He knew he had met at last the only woman in the world who could reveal to him the true depths of happiness in life. His full realization had come with her frank avowal of the place Von Salzinger had striven to hold in her life. It had been a threatening cloud, a summer billow of cloud tossed up by some adverse air-current, and, for the moment, it had obscured his sun. Its passing had left him in the full blaze of a radiance which he now appreciated at its true worth. He knew that he loved this wonderful Princess Vita. Once again the hand of Destiny had been revealed. He was moving blindly at its bidding. Nor had he will or inclination to diverge from the course marked out. He was content--more than content, and his only alloy was the rapidly approaching termination of the all too short evening. His car rolled up to the door. He had handed Vita into it, and stood leaning in through the doorway. "Where shall he drive to?" he enquired, with a smile of amusement. "Kensington?" "Please, Kensington." There was almost a challenge in the smile with which Vita replied to him. A moment later he was sitting beside her in the cabriolet as they drove on towards the crossing of Piccadilly Circus. "It is too late to let you take me all the way to my home," Vita said quietly. "Besides, I would rather remain in town for the night." Then she broke off in an undecided fashion. Ruxton caught at the pause. "Do not think about it. I have no desire to know anything but that which you choose to tell me." Vita laughed. And Ruxton felt that her laugh was slightly embarrassed. "It seems strange not to tell you where my real home is," she said. "There is no adequate reason for not doing so--and yet--I will tell you the reason that I occupy my Kensington flat in my two Christian names, and keep my real home away in the country. Father and I thought it out when we embarked upon our plans. We decided that in emergency it would be necessary to have a secure retreat. We endeavored to forestall all possibilities. We----" She broke off, gazing across the car at the open window of the door beside Ruxton. Her eyes were full of alarm. The car had stopped in a stream of traffic, held up by the imperious arm of the point policeman. A taxicab had come to a stop beside them, and slightly in advance. A hatless head had been thrust out of the window to observe the cause of the delay. It was a square head upon still squarer shoulders. The neck that linked them was fleshy and powerful. The hair was short and stubbly. Vita's hand reached swiftly and caught Ruxton's arm. "Quick," she whispered. "Quick--but cautiously. Don't let him see you. There, leaning out of that cab. It is Von Salzinger."