By Decree of the Seven.

Southern Cross, Volume 8, Issue 30, 10 November 1900, Page 13

By Decree of the Seven.

[PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.]

(COPYRIGHT.)

CHAPTER X. (Continued). The doctor’s warning of the danger Cevanci would incur by obeying the orders of Zanakis and returning to Naples, was after all only an echo of the dread premonition to which the old man had already given expression. So he accepted the decisive statement without demur,

‘ Well I have come to you for advice,’ he said, quietly. ' I am not surprised that I have been followed to this house, but I never expected to find Zanakis almost at your doorway. He could not know of my intention to come here. Therefore, he must have been watching yon.’ Hamilton realised the full force of his inference. If he were an object of distrust before he would be doubly so now, after this inopportune visit from Cevanci. The latter had also further jeopardised his own life by coming to the doctor’s residence at such an ill-fated juncture, when both men were objects ■of suspicion and under the ban of the secret organisation.

‘Let me think a few moments,’ said Hamilton, rising to his feet and slowly pacing the room. At last he came to a pause before the other’s chair.

‘ You say you haye sold your business. Have you been paid ? ’ he asked.

* The money is in my pocket now.’ ‘ And have you left your house for good ?’ ‘ For good. My travelling baggage is at the Left Luggage Office at Charing Cross.’ Well, for the present at least, you will have to sacrifice that. You dare not make any move to reclaim it. But if I contrive to get you safe and unnoticed out of this house will you go to an address I shall give you ?’ ‘Willingly —only too gladly,’ answered the old dealer with eagerness.

‘ Are you prepared to travel all the way to Scotland ? I think I can find you a place of refuge there.’ ‘Anywhere except to Naples,’ replied Cevanci. ‘ Then we must act quickly. There is a train to Edinburgh from Pancraa a few minutes after nine o’clock. I snail write a letter, which you will take with you.’ Hamilton preceded to a side table, at which he wrote rapidly for several minutes. When he returned to Cevanci he had an envelope in his hand.

‘This letter,’ he said, ‘is addressed to my brother in Edinburgh. He is a doctor, like myself, and he will find yon a lodging near to his own house. The cover is left open, and you can read what I have written when you are in the train. Take your clue from the letter and act strictly according to its terms. You will be in Edinburgh about seven in the morning. Go straight to my brother’s house—to the address on the envelope. Don’t write till you hear from me. I shall send a letter to you later on, addressed to my brother’s care.’ ‘How can I thank you, Dr. Hamilton, for all this kindness to me, a foreigner, aluost a stranger ?’ ‘ Don’t speak of thanks, Mr Cevanci. He would indeed be a poor creature who refused to help a fellow man in an hour of very desperate danger ; for I firmly believe that, after your coming to me now, you might be struck do.vn this very night in the crowded streets of London. What you have just told me only adds to other information already in my possession. Cevanci’s face grew perfectly livid, while Hamilton spoke these words. The doctor could see that it was not so nmchjthe dread of

BY EDMUND MITCHELL, Author of “ The Temple of Death,” “ Towards the Eternal Snow,” “ The Legacy of Jean Baptiste,” &e., &o.

death that affected the unhappy man ; it was the haunting sense of being threatened by some unseen hand that sickened and paralysed him. £ lf they would attack me in the street,’ asked the Italian, ‘ how can we leave this house ?’ ‘ I have thought of a plan,’ replied the doctor, with that quiet determination wlxich, despite his youth, seemed to inspire confidence in all with whom he came into contact. ‘ Help yourself to another glass of brandy while I get ray overcoat.’ He disappeared into the adjoining bedroom, and when he returned a minute later Cevanci had resumed his capacious "outer garment which, with or without intention, served excellently well as a disguise for his attenuated person. ‘ Now, come with me,’ said Hamilton. ‘ I will purposely leave the gas in these rooms fully alight. I wish no one outside to suspect that we have left the house.’

He then stepped into the hall, Cevanci following in a state of nervous wonder as to what was coming next.

Hamilton led the way to the back stairs, and together they descended into the kitchen regions. The landlady was there alone, dozing before the fire.

‘ Lawks, what a turn you gave me, doctor,’ she exclaimed, starting to her feet.

* Don’t put any questions to me, please, Mrs Brown,’ he said quietly, ‘But I want, just for to-night, the key of the right-of-way gate—the gate through which they bring your coals, you know.’ ‘ Mussy me, what an extraordinary thing to ask for, to be sure. But you know I trust you, doctor. You shall have the key.’ And she reached for it, hanging on one of the hooks of the dresser.

‘ I’ll lock the gate behind me, Mrs Brown,’ said Hamilton, ‘ and I shall be coming back the same way. Until I return, please let no one go to my room on any pretext whatever. I have left the gas burning, and wish it to remain so. If anyone should ask for me, simply say that I am engaged and cannot be disturbed. You understand all that, Mrs Brown F’

‘ Oh, yes, sir. I’ll see everything’s done according to your orders. But, lawks, it is strange now this ’ However, Hamilton cut short her scruples and her curiosity. ‘ Goodnight for the present, Mrs Brown, ’ he said with a nod, as he left the kitchen and quitted the house by the back door.

The night was dark, and both the lock and the key of the gate were rusty ; but after a few minutes’ the two men were up in their ankles in mud of a narrow, little-used right-of-way. Father on this alley took a turn at right angles ; and when they reached the lighted streets beyond they were a good hundred yards distant from the thoroughfare where the watchers were doubtless still posted. A cab rank was close by, and a drive of a very few minutes brought them to St. Pancras. There was not much time for further conversation. Cevanci’s ticket had to be taken, and a seat secured in a very crowded train. ‘ How can I ever thank you ? ’ again asked the fugitive, as for the last time he wrung his benefactor’s hand.

‘I think you’ll be safe now, ’ said the doctor, waiving the question. ‘ Read my letter carefully, Mr Cevanci, and act strictly according to its terms. Take the name I give you there ; tell no one your real name, not

even my brother, until I can write to him fully, ’ ‘ You have thought of everything; you are very good and kind; 1 am grateful. ’ The man’s manner spoke his thankfulness even more eloquently than bis words. ‘ I am glad to have been of service to you,’ replied Hamilton, gravely. ‘ But I have another duty to perform as well. Remember, Mr Gevanci, the murderers of Stephano Garcia must be found ; and, perhaps you may be able to help me later on to bring the crime home to the desperate villains who planned and perpetrated it.’ A slamming of doors, a final adieu, a shrill whistle, and with a gentle gliding motion, that would soon be a wild rush through the night, the north express had started. Hamilton, one of a small crowd that had gathered to bid good-bye to parting friends, sauntered towards the station exit. ‘ Xine-fifteen ’ — he read the hour on the big clock. ‘ Friday—the usual night of the rendezvous,’ he murmured to himself. Then he paused, for a moment irresolute. ‘ Yes, by Jingo, I’ll see it right through ; I’ll take all the risks. And he raised his hand to summon a hansom. CHAPTER XI. Behind the Timber Balk. As he drove off in the direction of Oxford Street, Hamilton weighed carefully each detail of the plan whieh, although it was by no means new to his thoughts, be had now resolved to early into effect that very night. He felt impelled to encounter all the dangers involved, and to forego certain precautions, which, with more time for peparation, it had been his intention to adopt, because he now had reason to doubt whether the opportunity would again recur for his making the observations that were essential to his after plans. This was Friday night—the usual night of the mysterious summons to the Soho courtyard. He must now or never gain further knowledge and more certain knowledge as to the meaning of that rendezvous, for he must have facts that could be proved before approaching the Scotland Yard authorities and putting them on the trail of Garcia’s assassins. At present, he knew well, his theory of the crime was to a large extent a fabric of surmise and inference. He was not so much afraid of his story being treated either with cold incredulity or downright ridicule by the heads of the detective department. His chief fear was lest the desperadoes, ever watchful and on the alert for the first sign made by the police, should gain , premature knowledge of the fact that suspicion had rested {upon them, and should escape before the net could be effectually spread for their capture. Even now Hamilton recognised that the apprehensions of danger he had undoubtedly aroused in the minds of Macropolo and his female confederate, might lead to the temporary dispersal of the conspirators. Cevanci’s warning that Maoropolo himself was watching his apartments, proved not merely that his uneasy feeling about having been that morning shadowed by the woman to the old dealer’s shop was well founded, but that, despite the elaborate precautions he had taken to throw her off the scent, he had been tracked thereafter to the hospital and finally to his place of residence. He also reflected that doubtless Carlotta, until she left the country, would be under the careful observation of her father’s assassins, so that her departure with Mrs Ravendale would have been noted and the carriage that took her away followed to its destination. And that address was the very one he had given for the consignment of statuary to be sent on the next day. His uneasv fears of possible complications from this error of judgment returned now with redoubled force and insistency. Hamilton had, therefore, ruefully to confess that all his efforts to avert

suspicion had ridiculously failed ; in fact his blundering attempts at concealment had simply resulted in the very opposite effect to that desired, for the woman would know that he had tried to elude her, and both his visit to Cevanci and the latter’s return visit to him would therefore have added significance attached to them. He could not guess, moreover, what interpretation the gang of conspirators might not -place upon the fact that next door to him lived one of their own number, M. Felix. All these circumstances, calculated to put less keenly vigilant fugitives from justice on the alert for troubles ahead, caused Hamilton grave uneasiness as to the chances of the future. To-night, perhaps, the usual weekly conclave would be held. But a week later the place and time of meeting would almost for certain be changed, and he might never again have the chance of following up the discoveries he had already made. Of course even now he might be doomed to disapointment. From what Carlotta had told him as regards her father it would appear that the order to attend did not come every Friday night with unfailing regularity; members of the Secret Council, or whatever it might be called, exhibited the signal at their windows to show that they were at their homes and ready, but the call to the meeting was given only when their attendance was required. Hamilton could but hope that bn this particular Friday the summons would have been duly issued. Every minute counted for the success of his plans, tor on the two previous occasions the messenger had delivered the signal to M. Felix just a little before ten o’clock. With a good horse aud a good driver, however, and the streets at this time of night comparatively free from traffic, Hamilton had more than a quarter of an hour to spare when he dismissed the cab at the point in Oxford Street nearest to his destination. After two or three turnings the lights at the corner public house appeared in view. In another minute, having passed this place, he was abreast of the courtyard, and without an instant’s hesitation he plunged into its dark abyss. He fully expected to run into'the arms of some sentry, and to have to retire discomfited after inventing a more or less plausible excuse about having mistaken his road. But no, the place seemed deserted. He groped his way along the dead wall with cautious and noiseless footsteps; now hig hand touched the heavy balk of timber which he knew to be almost opposite the doorway invisible in the blackness ; he passed underneath the sloping beam, and took his stand behind its protecting mass. Having reached this spot, he breathed again. Not a scintillation of light was to be seen in the courtyard, either from the doorway or the iron-shuttered windows of Macropolo’s premises. Not a sound broke the silence of the night except the dull, distancemuffled hum of the street traffic. The minutes seemed to move on with lead-laden wings. Hamilton could hear the far-away boom of Big Ben striking the hour of ten. But nothing happened ; no one carne. Still the silent watcher kept at his post with dogged pertinacity. At last he gave a start. There was a footfall in the courtyard, steady and unhesitating. The man knew his way in the dark. He must be close to the doorway. Yes; he had stopped, Hamilton soon heard three quick sharp taps, as if made by the edge of a coin on the panels of the door. There was no immediate response. Then five taps were given, with a considerable interval between each. Next another paase, and thereafter a single tap. Now at last came the sound of an iron bolt being withdrawn on the inside, and the rattle of a chain as the door was partially opened, Hamilton could just see a dim ray of light through the narrow aperture. Some word was spoken, some sign was given; the door was closed for

an instant to permit o£ the chain being • withdrawn ; then it was re-opened, and the man passed within. After this everything was silence and darkness again. Of one thing only Hamilton was certain—the man wore a black mask, which completely covered, his face from forehead to chin. But what word had he spoken ? What was the sign he had given P While the watcher was asking himself these questions there again fell on his ears the sound of someone advancing up the courtyard. As before —three quick taps, next five slow taps, thereafter a final tap ; and the door was again opened, first partly to the length of the protecting chain, and then sufficiently to admit the entrance of a man. Again Hamilton could see the newcomer was masked, and this time, keenly on the alert, he heard distinctly the syllables ‘ Omicron.’ ‘ Ah, as I guessed,’ he said to himself, ‘ They use the Greek alphabet for their passwords,’ Then he waited again, with bated breath.

Within five minutes a third man arrived, and on this occasion, after the regular number of taps, Hamilton, gained two further points of information, He had noticed in the case of the first comer that there was some sign given as well as a password spoken. This time the man happened so to stand that the watcher could see beyond him into the partly opened doorway. A lamp with a tiny flame stood on a wall bracket just within. Into this circle of light the applicant for admission, before the chain was withdrawn, thrust a bared arm, and the face that examined it was that of the woman whom the doctor had seen that morning in Macropolo’s shop. In another moment, for the fourth time in rapid succession, the entire code of signals was repeated, and yet another member of the gang passed inside. In the tall, slightly stooping figure, Hamilton could have sworn he recognised his neighbour, M. Felix. A fifth man came, and the watcher got another glimpse of the woman’s face; this time he even saw the cameo brooch, just as it had flashed before his eyes for an instant at Cevanci’s window.

‘ Yes, she tracked me right enough,’ came the thought, with bitter conviction. But the sixth man was at the door, and on this occasion Hamilton caught sight of the vermilion tattoo marks on white skin. He had not required, however, this visual proof that, while, the password of the night was ‘ Omicron,’ the hall-mark of the gang, the final credential that gained admittance to its councils, was the mystic’symbol

cn2raved on the forearm of each conspirator. Next followed a somewhat long pause. Hamilton’s straining ears could catch no sound 1 from within the building ; the silence of the court-yard remained unbroken. He was debating with himself whether he had not learned all that it was possible for him to learn that night, and whether it , might not be wiser for him to steal away now that the coast was clear. But just then he heard yet another footfall—quick and hurried—coining up the yard. ‘ Tap, tap, tap ’; ‘ tap, tap, tap, tap, tap ’ ; ‘ tap, ’ —and the door was partly opened. But this time the man was unmasked. It was Zanakis Macropolo himself, and he simply whispered through the narrow aperture the name ‘Angelina. ’ The chain was at once unfastened ‘ Have the others come ? ’ he inquired in a low tone, speaking in Italian. ‘ Yes ; they are here, ’ answered the woman. ‘ But has anything else gone wrong ? ’ she asked, intense anxiety expressed in the eager, although

' repressed manner of her question. ‘ Everything has gone wrong, ’ he replied, savagely. * Come outside for a minute. We must not be overheard. ’ The light of the doorway vanished, and Hamilton could hear the quick breathing of the man as he actually leaned against the opposite side of the balk of timber. ‘Was I right, Zanakis P ’ asked the woman in a whisper. ‘Yes, curse him. Oevanciis with him in his hpuse now. Gevanci came at half-past seven, and they are still closeted together. I have called you out here that I might tell you, but there must be no mention of our fears at the meeting to-night. We shall assuredly be blamed.’ ‘ Who is watching now ?’ ‘ Ferrari. He was on duty at Cevanci’s and followed him from his shop.’ ‘ If it be necessary for the cause, Cevanci mqst die,’ said the woman, Hamilton thought almost regretfully. ‘ No other course may be left to us,’ replied Macropolo. * But there will be no use in silencing him now till we can strike at this other man, his confidant, as well.’ ‘ What can this whipper-snapper have learned ? What does he know, Zanakis P All that Cevanci can tell him does not amount to much.’ ‘ For the life of me I cannot say,’ muttered the man. ‘ He is a doctor, I have heard ; more likely a detective, else how did he come to suspect that you were following him this morning ?’ ‘ Ah, that I don’t know. But I’ll be even with him yet,’ hissed the woman, with an accent of concentrated hate and fury that madeiteasy for the watcher to picture in the darkness the malevolence of her look. ‘ I dare say,’ murmured the man, grimly. ‘ The Angel leaves few scores unpaid.’ ‘ Have you discovered nothing—absolutely nothing, Zanakis ?’ ‘ Just one thing,’ he replied. ‘ His rooms are next door to those of Number Five.’ ‘ls that so?’ asked the woman, eagerly. ‘ What do you make out of that ?’ ‘ Number Five must be watched,’ answered the Greek. ‘ Hecannot be false ?’ she whispered, doubtingly and fearfully. ‘No. I don’t mean that. But he may have been indiscreet He may have done something to set this fellow ferreting out things.’ ‘ Then you think the position dangerous ?’ ‘ Undoubtedly. But I shall say nothing to the others to-night. . It will only bring us trouble. We must know more first.’ ‘ Zanakis, it is you he suspects. That is why he came to the shop today. You must be prepared to flee at a moment’s notice.’ ‘ We must all be prepared, Angelina,’ he replied. ‘ But nothing will be gained by sounding a premature, and, possibly, unnecessary alarm. Ferrari is to track Cevanci back to his house to-night. You must be on the watch for that doctor fellow by early morning, and keep him under your eye from the moment he leaves his rooms. I shall make enquiries as to the house where the girl has gone. Did Pedro tell you the address to which he followed that carriage from the hospital ?’ ‘ No. Where has she been taken to ?’ ‘ To the identical house where that bust by Caradini has to be sent tomorrow.’ ‘ Great Heavens ! What does that mean ?’ ‘ I can’t say. It’s all an infernal puzzle to me yet, but we’ll know more to-morrow. I’ll go with the statuary myself. That will seem all right, for I undertook personal responsibility for its safe delivery. I’ll be able to see how things lie in that direction.’ ‘ And how will you warn the others if things come to a crisis ?’ ‘ I shall call another meeting here for to-morrow night, in all events; and meanwhile I’ll instruct everyone to be on the watch daring the day for *

special news. If necessary the urgent danger signal can be sent round during the afternoon ; then each one will know how to act, and we can explain things when we re-assemble in Paris. How we must go in ?’

In another minute the man and the woman had re-entered the house, and in the momentary flash of the lamplight Hamilton just noted the fact, without having the time to give any thought as to what special significance might attach to it, that Macropolo still wore no mask, but seemed to pass into the meeting of the confederates without adopting the precaution of disguising his features, as all the other members of the gang had done. Almost before the last rattle of the door chain and the last rasp of the iron bolt had died away, the watcher had stolen down the courtyard with cautious steps. It was with a sigh, almost a cry, of relief that he gained the thronged thoroughfare. He had learned much ; but the point of sfipreme importance lay in the fact that Cevanci’s flight was still unsuspected, and that until daylight at least his own movements would be unfettered and free from the prying eyes of that terrible woman.

‘ The Angel! ’ Macropolo had called her; ‘ the Angel leaves few scores unpaid’—he remembered the exact words employed by the Greek. And he knew now that, apart from all other considerations, it would mean some terrible punishment for himself unless the entire .gang were captured, including the female known by a designation which in her case had a peculiarly grim and ghastly application. It was indeed the shadow of the wings of the Angel of Death that lay black and dark upon the path before him. CHAPTER XU.—SPREADING THE NET. Secure in the knowledge that for the present he was free from espionage Hamilton made straight in the direction of Trafalgar Square, and thence to Scotland Uard. He experienced no difficulty in securing an interview with one of the chief officers on duty. It was a more serious matter, however, when, seated at the opposite side ofja little table, he had to essay the task of telling a succinct, coherent, and understandable story to the reserved, observant man prepared to listen to it. Hamilton was painfully conscious of the jumbled condition of his narrative “Solid facts jostling with vague surmises, reasonable inferences running riot into wild conjectures, and ordinary every-day men becoming transformed into the most dangerous and mysterious of characters. As he tried to unwind the tangled skein in his hands he felt the knots tightening and the interlaced loops becoming more ravelled than ever. It was a long story, too, that he had to tell—his examination of Stephano Garcia’s body and its enigmatic tattooed marks; ' the strange signals given and received by his neighbour, M. Felix ; the train of events that had associated in the narrator’s mind this riddle with the actual crime; the additional light afforded by Oarlotta Garcia’s confidences, which in the circumstances it was now no breach of taust or professional etiquette to reveal; the visit to Macropolo’s premises; Cevancia’s fears and flight ; and the crowning discovery of all, namely, the conversation he had just surprised in the of the Soho courtyard. It was in a half-timid, half-shame-ful sort of way that Hamilton looked at the detective chief when at last he reached the end of his extraordinary tale.

‘ I am afraid, Mr St. John, I’ve muddled things terribly,’ stammered the young fellow nervously. ‘ On the contrary, Dr Hamilton,’ replied the other quietly, ‘ I think you have made a discovery of first importance. The very mistakes you have fallen into, and which a trained detective would certainly not have made—l refer, for example, to your going from Macropolo’s to Cevanci’s, even after you saw that the Greek

and his companion had eyed you with a certain amount of distrust — have had the happiest results. But for that blander —- from the strict detective point of view it can be called nothing else —you would never have heard one word of that allimportant conversation to-night—a conversation that has practically given us the key to the whole situation.’ ‘So by putting my foot in it I have really scored,’ remarked the doctor with a smile. ‘ Exactly —if you care to express it that way,’ replied Bt. John, also laughing. ‘ Still, blunders or no blunders, the fact remains that you have secured and followed a clue which up to the present it has baffled all our ingenuity to get hold of. We, of course, knew from the first that Garcia’s murder was the work of a secret society. However, although once or twice we may have thought that we were on the hot trail, I must frankly admit to you that our best and most experienced men in this particular line of business have been foiled where, it strikes me, you have completely succeeded.’ ‘l’m thankful to hear you speak like that, I’m sure,’ said Hamilton. ‘ But both comments and compliments must be put aside for the present. There is assuredly no time to be lost. Can’t we trap the whole gang tonight now, without a minute’s unnecessary delay ‘ No,’ the officer answered, ‘ I have been thinking things out while you have been speaking. It is now close upon midnight, and there is no certainty whatever that the men are still together in the place of meeting. The police must not appear in this business till we can act with absolute certainty. To-morrow night, when you say they are to meet again, will be time enough.’ ‘Unless, meanwhile, the suspicions entertained by Macropolo and his female accomplice become stronger, and by sending round what they called the urgent danger signal, they effect the dispersal and flight of the entire gang.’ ‘ Exactly ; and to prevent this we must take effective steps to allay their suspicions. ‘ You will see my meaning presently.’ And Mr St. John touched an electric button on the table by his side. ‘Ask Mr Scott and Mr Jenkins to step this way,’ he said to the messenger who responded to his call. In a few minutes two other detectives entered the room. ‘ Now, Dr Hamilton, please describe the general appearance of Cevanci as he entered your house,’ remarked the chief. Hamilton complied ; he remembered with a smile his owa unspoken jest about a tiny pea emerging from a very large pod. ‘He was wearing a dark coloured overcoat, of what 1 think is called the Inverness pattern, some sizes too big for him, for it reached almost to his heels, and was buttoned well over his chin.’ ‘ And what was the style of his hat ?’ asked the officer. ‘ An ordinary black bowler.’ ‘Mr Jenkins here is about Cevanci’s height, I think, doctor, for I saw the man at the inquest.’ ‘ Yes, they are pretty much of a size. . 4 Well, Jenkins,’ continued the chief, addressing his subordinate, ‘getyourself into the rig you have just heard described. Then come back here for final instructions,’ The man left the room. ‘ Now, Scott, you and I shall go together to Cevanci’s old shop. Whoever is now in possession there must be roused —an Englishman, he said, did he not. Doctor Hamilton ?’ ‘ Yes, an English dealer in bric-a-hrac.’ ‘ Well, you will take Mr Jenkins back with you. Get into your rooms unobserved through the right-of-way by which you and Cevanci left. You have still the key of the gate in your possession ?’ ‘ Yes, here it is,’ replied Hamilton, producing the article in question. ‘ That’s right. How, what you have got to do is to show Jenkins

out of your house by the front door, openly. Bid him good-night ; there will be no harm done if you call'him pretty loudly by the name of Cevanci-’ ■‘ I begin to understand,’ murmured Hamilton. ‘ The man on guard will be certain to follow Cevanci, or rather the supposed Cevanci, to his old home. We shall have made the necessary arrangements for his being admitted there. In that way the watchers will rest in the belief that the old man is safely housed, and still under their eye,’ ‘ And what shall I do next P’ asked the doctor. ‘Co to bed, and just act as usual. Bnt soon after breakfast make your way to Mrs Ravendale’s, I shall have seen that lady myself or her husband, whom I happen to know, first thing iu the morning. They will expect you. Be there when the statuary arrives ; let Miss Garcia be in evidence, so as to make Macaopolo believe that there is no secrecy whatever about her presence in the bouse; and do anything else your ingenuity may suggest to lull his suspicions. Saturday is a short business day, and the goods will be delivered m the morning. After the Greek’s departure, put in the afternoon in any way you please. Above all appear unconcerned and open in all your movements. It would not be a bad plan for you to go to a matinee at one of the theatres. You need have no fear of any personal hurt; as you heard them say themselves, now that they believe that Cevanci has betrayed to you what he knows or suspects, it is useless to strike at the one without securing at the same time the silence of the other. Moreover, I’ll take very careful measures to protect you wherever you go.’ ‘ That's all right; I'm not afraid,’ replied Hamilton. ‘ And after the theatre ?’ ‘Go home, and rest quietly. Light your gas as usual, as if you were indoors and reading. But you will quit the house as before by tbe back alley. Co to the private bar of the Russell Hotel, and await a message from me there. Mr Scott will bring it to you. Don’t be anxious or worried ; it may be nearly ten o’clock before my promised message comes for you.’ ‘ I understand. You will have Macropolo’s premises surrounded when the meeting is being held.’ ‘Exactly. We shall raid the place, and if you like to be with us then, I shall have no objection.’ ‘ I wouldn’t miss such an opportunity for worlds, ’ exclaimed the doctor. ‘Well, then, that provides for everything. Now, Jenkins, ’ the detective so named had re-entered the room during the conversation, suitably accoutred for the part he had to play —‘ just a few instructions for you.’ The chief took his man aside and Hamilton got ready to depart. In another five minutes they were in a cab, and driving in the direction of Bloomsbury. (To be continued.)