on one effort of listening. At
last she raised her head. The room resounded with her cries.

"Don't come in! Don't come in here!" she shrieked. "Mr. Laverick,
do you hear? Go away! Don't come in here alone!"

Her brother was the first to reach her, his hand fell upon her mouth
brutally. Her little effort was naturally a failure--defeating,
in fact, its own object. Laverick, hearing her cries, simply
hastened his coming, threw open the door without waiting to knock,
and stepped quickly across the threshold. He saw a man dressed in
shabby workman's clothes, unshaven, dishevelled, holding Zoe in a
rough grasp, and with a single well-directed blow he sent him reeling
across the room. Then something in the man's cry, a momentary
glimpse of his white face, revealed his identity.

"Morrison!" he cried. "Good God, it's Morrison!"

Arthur Morrison was crouching in a corner of the room, his evil face
turned upon his aggressor. Laverick took quick stock of his
surroundings. There was the tall, fair young man--Adolf Kahn--whom
he had seen at the Milan a few hours ago--the man who had
unsuccessfully forged his name. There was Lassen, the man who, under
pretence of being her manager, had been a spy upon Louise. There was
Streuss, with blanched face and hard features, standing with his back
to the door. There was Zoe, and, behind, her brother. She held out
her hands timidly towards him, and her eyes were soft with pleading.

"I did not want you to come here, Mr. Laverick," she cried softly.
"I tried so hard to stop you. It was not I who sent that message."

He took her cold little fingers and raised them to his lips.

"I know it, dear," he murmured.

Then a movement in the room warned him, and he was suddenly on guard.
Lassen was close to his side, some evil purpose plainly enough
written in his pasty face and unwholesome eyes. Laverick gave him
his left shoulder and sent him staggering across the floor. He was
angry at having been outwitted and his eyes gleamed ominously.

"Well, gentlemen," he exclaimed, "you seem to have taken unusual
pains to secure my presence here! Tell me now, what can I do for
you?"

It was Streuss who became spokesman. He addressed Laverick with
the consideration of one gentleman addressing another. His voice
had many agreeable qualities. His demeanor was entirely amicable.

"Mr. Laverick," he answered, "let us first apologize if we used a
little subterfuge to procure for