restrained a smile, and, "A well-meaning but melancholy
retainer!" he commented.

"As well as I hear you now, laddie, I heard the pibroch on the day a
certain woman first crossed my threshold, nigh thirty years ago, in
Inverary. And as plainly as I heard it wailing then, I heard it the
first evening that Miss Dorian came to this house!"

Torn between good-humoured amusement and real interest, "If I remember
rightly," said Stuart, "Mlle. Dorian first called here just a week ago,
and immediately before I returned from an Infirmary case?"

"Your memory is guid, Mr. Keppel."

"And when, exactly, did you hear this Warning?"

"Twa minutes before you entered the house; and I heard it again the
now."

"What! you heard it to-night?"

"I heard it again just the now and I lookit out the window."

"Did you obtain a glimpse of Rob Roy's piper?"

"Ye're laughing at an old wife, laddie. No, but I saw Miss Dorian away
in her car and twa minutes later I saw yourself coming round the
corner."

"If she had only waited another two minutes," murmured Stuart. "No
matter; she may return. And are these the only occasions upon which
you have heard this mysterious sound, Mrs. M'Gregor?"

"No, Master Keppel, they are not. I assure ye something threatens. It
wakened me up in the wee sma' hours last night--the piping--an' I lay
awake shaking for long eno'."

"How extraordinary. Are you sure your imagination is not playing you
tricks?"

"Ah, you're no' takin' me seriously, laddie."

"Mrs. M'Gregor"--he leaned across the table and rested his hands upon
her shoulders--"you are a second mother to me, your care makes me feel
like a boy again; and in these grey days it's good to feel like a boy
again. You think I am laughing at you, but I'm not. The strange
tradition of your family is associated with a tragedy in your life;
therefore I respect it. But have no fear with regard to Mlle. Dorian.
In the first place she is a patient; in the second--I am merely a
penniless suburban practitioner. Good-night, Mrs. M'Gregor. Don't
think of waiting up. Tell Mary to show Mademoiselle in here directly
she arrives--that is if she really returns."

Mrs. M'Gregor stood up and walked slowly to the door. "I'll show
Mademoiselle in mysel', Mr. Keppel," she said,--"and show her out."

She closed the door very quietly.

CHAPTER III

THE SCORPION'S TAIL

Seating himself at the writing-table, Stuart began mechanically to
arrange his papers. T