“He is interested in this matter of Mount Li. So firm was my conviction that he was behind the treachery of my two men, that I took the liberty of preparing a little surprise for him last night. Unfortunately,” he said with regret, “it did not materialise. But to-night--who knows?” He rose abruptly, and buttoned his overcoat, turning up the collar about his neck. “I must go now,” he said. “There is a lot of work to be done before to-morrow morning.” “What work?” asked De Costa. “I am going to recover the bracelet,” said Soo, and there was that in his eyes which made the older man quail. “There will be no violence?” he stammered. “None, I assure you,” said the other airily. “Remember,” said De Costa almost tremulously, “that it is a woman you have to deal with.” “I have dealt with many women,” said Soo, “and I find very little difference between the sexes save that the gentler is a trifle more courageous, and a little more willing to bear the consequences of their folly.” De Costa accompanied him into the regions of the kitchen and showed him to the door which led to the area. Not another word was spoken between the two men. De Costa closed the door behind his visitor and bolted it securely. He went back to his study and drained off a glass of neat brandy. He went to bed that night in no happy frame of mind. He might have been less happy, as he lay tossing from side to side in his bed, had he seen the dark figure of a man stealing in the shadow of the wall which formed a tiny courtyard at the back of his house. CHAPTER VI. A CRIME OF TILLIZINNI. Whoever the masked man was who was working so deliberately at the back door of Mr. de Costa’s respectable dwelling, he went to work methodically and without any indication that he feared detection. He carried a little tiny kit of tools which he had spread upon the ground, and from time to time he leant down and selected one of these by the light of a small electric lamp which he flashed for a moment upon the kit’s contents. He took some trouble to avoid anything in the nature of a violent noise, and it was half an hour before the lock, and a portion of the door, came away very gently in his hand. As methodically he leant down and rolled up the tools, placing them in his pocket; he pushed the door open, and entered. He had no difficulty in forcing another door, or in gaining the wide hallway which formed the principal entrance to the house. In half an hour he pursued his inquiries with quiet confidence. The dining-room yielded nothing; the rather ornate drawing-room no more. Yet he made a systematic search, flickering his light here and there, moving such pictures as he thought might conceal that which he sought.