live."

"Further," Mr. Grimm resumed in the same tone, "I have been ordered to
prevent the signing of that compact, at least in this country. It seems
that I am barely in time. If it is signed--and it will be useless now on
your own statement unless you murder me--every man who signs it will
have to reckon with the highest power of this country. Will you destroy
it? I don't want to know what countries already stand committed by the
signatures there."

"I will not," was the steady response. And then, after a little: "Mr.
Grimm, the inventor of this little cap, insignificant as it seems, will
receive millions for it. Your silence would be worth--just how much?"

Mr. Grimm's face turned red, then white again.

"Which would you prefer? An independence by virtue of a great fortune,
or--or the other thing?"

Suddenly Miss Thorne tore the mask from her face and came forward. Her
cheeks were scarlet, and anger flamed in the blue-gray eyes.

"Mr. Grimm has no price--I happen to know that," she declared hotly.
"Neither money nor a consideration for his own personal safety will make
him turn traitor." She stared coldly into the prince's eyes. "And we are
not assassins here," she added.

"Miss Thorne has stated the matter fairly, I believe, your Highness,"
and Mr. Grimm permitted his eyes to linger a moment on the flushed face
of this woman who, in a way, was defending him. "But there is only one
thing to do, Miss Thorne." He was talking to her now. "There is no
middle course. It is a problem that has only one possible answer--the
destruction of that document, and the departure of you, and you, your
Highness, for Italy under my personal care all the way. I imagined this
matter had ended that day on the steamer; it _will_ end here, now,
to-night."

The prince glanced again at his watch, then thoughtfully weighed the
percussion cap in his hand, after which, with a curious laugh, he walked
over to the squat iron globe in an opposite corner of the room. He bent
over it half a minute, then straightened up.

"That cap, Mr. Grimm, has one disadvantage," he remarked casually. "When
it is attached to a mine or torpedo it can not be disconnected without
firing it. It is attached." He turned to the others. "It is needless to
discuss the matter further just now. If you will follow me? We will
leave Mr. Grimm here."

With a strange little cry, neither anger nor anguish, yet oddly
partaking of the quality of each, Isabel went quickly