"Well," said Dan, going to the table and taking a sandwich, together with a glass of port wine. "I think you are spiteful enough to give me a bad time before dying, so I am quite sure that I can eat and drink with safety!" "Oh, what a pity; what a pity," said Miss Armour thoughtfully, when the young man returned to his seat and began to make a hurried meal. "What's a pity?" asked Dan carelessly. "That you and I should be enemies. I gave you the chance to be friendly with me, you know, but you wouldn't take it. Yet I admire you, and have always admired you. You have courage, brains, coolness, and persistence. These are valuable qualities such as I needed for a member of my society. If I had not seen that you possessed them and wished to make use of them by binding you to my society, I should have ended your life long ago." "As Sir Charles Moon's life was ended; as Durwin's life was cut short; as Penn was disposed of, and as Lord Curberry was dispatched." "Well, no. Curberry poisoned himself because he feared that everything was about to come out." "As it will." "Probably," said Queen Beelzebub indifferently, "but there are yet some hours before the end. No, my friend, you will not die like those you have mentioned. Your cleverness demands a more ingenious death." "You are a very clever woman," said Dan, finishing his glass of port. "I am. You will admire my cleverness when you----" she checked herself and laughed. "I knew a Chinese mandarin once and he told me many things, Mr. Halliday. You can guess what he told me." "Something about torture?" said Dan, lighting his pipe, "quite so. You go to the Chinese to learn how to hurt a man. I thought you were more original." Miss Armour sneered. "Isn't this indifference rather overdone, Mr. Halliday?" "Well, it is a trifle. I'm in a blue funk, and can you blame me," he shuddered, "a man doesn't like to die by inches, you know. However, as we understand one another, suppose we wile away the time by your telling me how you came to start this damned gang of yours." "My dear young friend, I admire your courage so much that I can refuse you nothing," mocked Miss Armour, wincing as she moved her broken arm. "I really should be in bed with my hurt." "You'll get feverish if you don't lay up," Dan advised her. "Oh, I don't think so. I know about other drugs than the Sumatra scent, Mr. Halliday. Of course, a broken arm," she added with a sigh, "can't be mended by all the drugs in the world. Time alone can put it right, and, thanks to you, I shan't have time to get cured. If you had only fought with me instead of against me, this would not have happened. Well, my society----" "Yes. What about your society?" questioned Dan, politely and easily.