"A very good idea." Norton shook hands with every one and departed. "What a brave, pleasant young man!" murmured Susan. "I like him, too; and I'd like him for a friend," said the guileless girl. "It is very good to have a friend like Mr. Norton," added Jones; and passed out into the kitchen. All the help had been discharged and upon his shoulders lay the burden of the cooking till such time when he could reinstate the cook. There was a stormy scene between Braine and the countess that night. [Illustration: THERE WAS A STORMY SCENE BETWEEN BRAINE AND THE PRINCESS] "Are you in your dotage?" she asked vehemently. "There, there; bring your voice down a bit. Where's the girl?" "In her home. Where did you suppose she would be, after that botchwork of letting me go to do one thing while you had in mind another? And an ordinary pair of cutthroats, at that!" "The thought came to me after you left. I knew you'd recognize the men and understand. I see no reason why it didn't work." "It would have been all right if you had consulted a clairvoyant." "What the deuce do you mean by that?" Braine demanded roughly. "I mean that then you would have learned your friend the reporter was to arrive upon the scene at its most vital moment." "What, Norton?" "Yes. The trouble is with you, you have been so successful all these years that you have grown overconfident. I tell you that there is a desperately shrewd man somewhere back of all this. Mark me, I do not believe Hargreave is dead. He is in hiding. It may be near by. He may have dropped from the balloon before it left land. The man they picked up may be Orts, the aeronaut. The five thousand might have been his fee for rescuing Hargreave. Here is the greatest thing we've ever been up against; and you start in with every-day methods!" "Little woman, don't let your tongue run away with you too far." "I'm not the least bit afraid of you, Leo. You need me, and it has never been more apparent than at this moment." "All right. I fell by the wayside this trip. Truthfully, I realized it five minutes after the men were gone. The only clever thing I did was to keep the mask on my face. They can't come back at me. But the thing looked so easy; and it would have worked but for Norton's appearance." "You all but compromised me. That butler worries me a little." Her expression lost its anger and grew thoughtful. "He's always about, somewhere. Do you think Hargreave took him into his confidence?" "Can't tell. He's been watched straight for forty hours. He hasn't mailed a letter or telephoned to any place but the grocery. There have been no telegrams. Some one in that house knows where the money is, and it's ten to one that it will be the girl." "She looks enough like Katrina to be her ghost." Braine went over to the window and stared up at the stars. "You have made a good impression on the girl?" with his back still toward her. "I had her in my arms."