“God! what a lot,” he muttered. “They discuss their affairs with an open window, and that fool Carlo goes his round with the tread of an elephant, and the eyes of a bat. And to crown all, the Herzoslovakians and the French are on the point of coming to blows. King Victor’s headquarters seem to be in a parlous condition. It would amuse me, it would amuse me very much, to teach them a lesson.” He stood irresolute for a minute, smiling to himself. From somewhere above his head came a stifled groan. Anthony looked up. The groan came again. Anthony glanced quickly from left to right. Carlo was not due round again just yet. He grasped the heavy Virginia creeper and climbed nimbly till he reached the sill of a window. The window was shut, but with a tool from his pocket he soon succeeded in forcing up the catch. He paused a minute to listen, then sprang lightly inside the room. There was a bed in the far corner and on that bed a man was lying, his figure barely discernible in the gloom. Anthony went over to the bed, and flashed his pocket torch on the man’s face. It was a foreign face, pale and emaciated, and the head was swathed in heavy bandages. The man was bound hand and foot. He stared up at Anthony like one dazed. Anthony bent over him, and as he did so he heard a sound behind him and swung round, his hand travelling to his coat pocket. But a sharp command arrested him. “Hands up, sonny. You didn’t expect to see me here, but I happened to catch the same train as you at Victoria.” It was Mr. Hiram Fish who was standing in the doorway. He was smiling and in his hand was a big blue automatic. 25 Tuesday Night at Chimneys Lord Caterham, Virginia and Bundle were sitting in the library after dinner. It was Tuesday evening. Some thirty hours had elapsed since Anthony’s rather dramatic departure. For at least the seventh time Bundle repeated Anthony’s parting words, as spoken at Hyde Park Corner. “I’ll find my own way back,” repeated Virginia thoughtfully. “That doesn’t look as though he expected to be away as long as this. And he’s left all his things here.” “He didn’t tell you where he was going?” “No,” said Virginia, looking straight in front of her. “He told me nothing.” After this, there was a silence for a minute or two. Lord Caterham was the first to break it. “On the whole,” he said, “keeping an hotel has some advantages over keeping a country house.” “Meaning——?” “That little notice they always hang up in your room. Visitors intending departure must give notice before twelve o’clock.” Virginia smiled. “I dare say,” he continued, “that I am old-fashioned and unreasonable. It’s the fashion, I know, to pop in and out of a house. Same idea as an hotel—perfect freedom of action, and no bill at the end!” “You are an old grouser,” said Bundle. “You’ve had Virginia and me. What more do you want?”