Severac Bablon checked him with a quiet smile. "Have I ever compromised another?" "But now you cannot avoid doing so. Sheffield is inside! What madness brings you here?" "In the absence of the Hon. Maurice Anerly, I acted as Haredale's best man." Sheard literally gasped. "But you are not----" "A Christian? My religious beliefs, Sheard, do not preclude my attendance at a wedding ceremony. Some day I may explain this to you." "You must have been recognised!" "Who knows Severac Bablon?" "At least four people now in that house!" "Possibly. But no one of those four has seen me. No one of them was present at the ceremony; and, I assure you, I made myself scarce afterwards." "You must hurry. You have been traced----" "Never fear; I shall hurry. But, before I go, Sheard, take this envelope. It is the last 'scoop' that I have to offer to the _Gleaner_, but it is the biggest of all! Good-bye." "Do I understand that you are leaving England?" So sincere was the emotion in the pressman's voice that Severac Bablon's own had changed when he replied: "We may never meet again; I cannot tell." He laid his hands upon the other's shoulders in a characteristic gesture, and to Sheard, as he met the glance of those fine eyes, this was no criminal flying from justice; rather, a ruler of peoples, an enthusiast, a fanatic perhaps, but a royal man--and his friend. "Good-bye!" said Severac Bablon, and clasped Sheard's hand in both his own. He turned to Zoe Oppner, who, very pale, was glancing back at the house. "Good-bye again!" A cab waited, and Severac Bablon, lighting a cigarette, leapt in and was driven away. Sheard did not hear his directions to the man; and Zoe Oppner left him abruptly and ran into the house again. Before he had time to move, to collect his thoughts, a heavy hand was laid upon his shoulder. He started. Inspector Sheffield stood beside him. "Who was in that cab?" he rapped. Sheard realised that the moment to which he had long looked forward with dread was come. He had been caught red-handed. At last Severac Bablon had dared too greatly, and he, Sheard, must pay the price of that indiscretion. "Why do you ask--and in that tone?" "Mr. Sheard," said the detective grimly, "I've had my eye on you for a long while, as you must be well aware. You may not be aware that but for me you'd have been arrested long ago! I'm past the time when sensational arrests appeal to me, though. I'm out to hide scandals, not to turn the limelight on 'em. You're a well-known man, and it would break you, I take it, if I hauled you up for complicity? But I've got my responsibilities, too, remember; and I warn you--I warn you solemnly--if you bandy words with me now, I'll have you in Marlborough Street inside ten minutes!"