hing we cannot very well act upon. He
clearly believes it himself; for he has released you after having
captured you, evidently in order that you may be at liberty to take
up your duty as trustee of the slipper again. If the slipper really
comes back to the Museum the fact will show Hassan to be something
little short of a magician. I shan't envy you then, Mr. Cavanagh,
considering that you hold the keys of the case!"

"No," I replied wearily. "Poor Professor Deeping thought that he
acted in my interests and that my possession of the keys would
constitute a safeguard. He was wrong. It has plunged me into the
very vortex of this ghastly affair."

"It is maddening," said Bristol, "to know that Hassan and Company
are snugly located somewhere under our very noses, and that all
Scotland Yard can find no trace of them. Then to think that Hassan
of Aleppo, apparently by means of some mystical light, has knowledge
of the whereabouts of the slipper and consequently of the
whereabouts of Earl Dexter (another badly wanted man) is extremely
discouraging! I feel like an amateur; I'm ashamed of myself!"

Bristol departed in a condition of irritable uncertainty.

My head in my hands, I sat for long after his departure, with the
phantom characters of the ghoulish drama dancing through my
brain. The distorted yellow dwarfs seemed to gibe apish before me.
Severed hands clenched and unclenched themselves in my face, and
gleaming knives flashed across the mental picture. Predominant over
all was the stately figure of Hassan of Aleppo, that benignant,
remorseless being, that terrible guardian of the holy relic who
directed the murderous operations. Earl Dexter, The Stetson Man,
with his tightly bandaged arm, his gaunt, clean-shaven face and
daredevil smile, figured, too, in my feverish daydream; nor was
that other character missing, the girl with the violet eyes whose
beautiful presence I had come to dread; for like a sybil announcing
destruction her appearances in the drama had almost invariably
presaged fresh tragedies. I recalled my previous meetings with
this woman of mystery. I recalled my many surmises regarding her
real identity and association with the case. I wondered why in the
not very distant past I had promised to keep silent respecting her;
I wondered why up to that present moment, knowing beyond doubt that
her activities were inimical to my interests, were criminal, I had
observed that foolish pledge.

An