n London, after an unavoidable delay
in Ostend; his name once more figured in the Court chronicle of the
newspapers. In short, everything was smothered over. Only--only Jules,
Rocco, and Miss Spencer were still at large; and the body of Reginald
Dimmock lay buried in the domestic mausoleum of the palace at Posen; and
Prince Eugen had still to interview Mr Sampson Levi.

That various matters lay heavy on the mind of Prince Eugen was beyond
question. He seemed to have withdrawn within himself. Despite the
extraordinary experiences through which he had recently passed, events
which called aloud for explanations and confidence between the nephew
and the uncle, he would say scarcely a word to Prince Aribert. Any
allusion, however direct, to the days at Ostend, was ignored by him with
more or less ingenuity, and Prince Aribert was really no nearer a full
solution of the mystery of Jules' plot than he had been on the night
when he and Racksole visited the gaming tables at Ostend. Eugen was well
aware that he had been kidnapped through the agency of the woman in the
red hat, but, doubtless ashamed at having been her dupe, he would not
proceed in any way with the clearing-up of the matter.

'You will receive in this room, Eugen?' Aribert questioned him.

'Yes,' was the answer, given pettishly. 'Why not? Even if I have no
proper retinue here, surely that is no reason why I should not hold
audience in a proper manner?... Hans, you can go.' The old valet
promptly disappeared.

'Aribert,' the Hereditary Prince continued, when they were alone in the
chamber, 'you think I am mad.'

'My dear Eugen,' said Prince Aribert, startled in spite of himself.
'Don't be absurd.'

'I say you think I am mad. You think that that attack of brain fever has
left its permanent mark on me. Well, perhaps I am mad. Who can tell? God
knows that I have been through enough lately to drive me mad.'

Aribert made no reply. As a matter of strict fact, the thought had
crossed his mind that Eugen's brain had not yet recovered its normal
tone and activity. This speech of his nephew's, however, had the effect
of immediately restoring his belief in the latter's entire sanity. He
felt convinced that if only he could regain his nephew's confidence, the
old brotherly confidence which had existed between them since the years
when they played together as boys, all might yet be well. But at present
there appeared to be no sign that Eugen meant to give his confidence