[Picture: The committee on treachery is ready to report] “A little sombre,” said Cleopatra. “The corsage is effective, but I don’t like those basque terminations. I’ve never approved of those full godets—” “The committee on treachery,” remarked Delilah again, raising her voice, “has a suggestion to make.” “I can’t get over those sleeves, though,” laughed Helen of Troy. “What is the use of them?” “They might be used to get Greeks into Troy,” suggested Madame Récamier. “The committee on treachery,” roared Delilah, thoroughly angered by the absorption of the chairman and others, “has a suggestion to make. This is the third and last call.” “Oh, I beg pardon,” cried Cleopatra, rapping for order. “I had forgotten all about our committees. Excuse me, Delilah. I—ah—was absorbed in other matters. Will you kindly lay your pattern—I should say your plan—before us?” “It is briefly this,” said Delilah. “It has been suggested that we invite the crew of this vessel to a chafing-dish party, under the supervision of Lucretia Borgia, and that she—” The balance of the plan was not outlined, for at this point the speaker was interrupted by a loud knocking at the door, its instant opening, and the appearance in the doorway of that ill-visaged ruffian Captain Kidd. “Ladies,” he began, “I have come here to explain to you the situation in which you find yourselves. Have I your permission to speak?” The ladies started back, but the chairman was equal to the occasion. “Go on,” said Cleopatra, with queenly dignity, turning to the interloper; and the pirate proceeded to take the second step in the nefarious plan upon which he and his brother ruffians had agreed, of which the tossing in through the window of the bundle of fashion papers was the first. VII THE “GEHENNA” IS CHARTERED IT was about twenty-four hours after the events narrated in the preceding chapters that Mr. Sherlock Holmes assumed command of the _Gehenna_, which was nothing more nor less than the shadow of the ill-starred ocean steamship _City of Chicago_, which tried some years ago to reach Liverpool by taking the overland route through Ireland, fortunately without detriment to her passengers and crew, who had the pleasure of the experience of shipwreck without any of the discomforts of drowning. As will be remembered, the obstructionist nature of the Irish soil prevented the _City of Chicago_ from proceeding farther inland than was necessary to keep her well balanced amidships upon a convenient and not too stony bed; and that after a brief sojourn on the rocks she was finally disposed of to the Styx Navigation Company, under which title Charon had had himself incorporated, is a matter of nautical history. The change of name to the _Gehenna_ was the act of Charon himself, and was prompted, no doubt, by a desire to soften the jealous prejudices of the residents of the Stygian capital against the flourishing and ever-growing metropolis of Illinois.