ez_!"

I went to it and flung it wide. Anastasius Papadopoulos trotted into the
room.

His entrance was so queer, so unexpected, so anti-climatic, that for the
moment the three of us were thrown off our emotional balance.

"I have heard all, I have heard all," shrieked the little man. "I know
you for what you are. I am the champion of the _carissima signora_
and the protector of the English statesman. You are a traitor and
murderer--"

Vauvenarde lifted his hand in a threatening gesture.

"Hold your tongue, you little abortion!" he shouted.

But Anastasius went on screaming and flourishing his bundle of papers.

"Ask him if he remembers the horse Sultan; ask him if he remembers the
horse Sultan!"

Lola took him by the shoulders.

"Anastasius, you must go away from here--to please me. It's my orders."

But he shook himself free, and the silk hat which he had not removed
fell off in the quick struggle.

"Ask him if he remembers Saupiquet," he screamed, and then banged the
door.

A malevolent devil put a sudden idea into my head and prompted speech.

"_Do_ you remember Saupiquet?" I asked ironically.

"Monsieur, meddle with your own affairs and let me pass. You shall hear
from me."

The dwarf planted himself before the door.

"You shall not pass till you have answered me. Do you remember
Saupiquet? Do you remember the five francs you gave to Saupiquet to let
you into Sultan's stable? Ah! Ha! Ha! You wince. You grow pale. Do you
remember the ball of poison you put down Sultan's throat?"

Lola started forward with flaming eyes and anguished face.

"You--you?" she gasped. "You were so ignoble as to do that?"

"The accursed brute!" shouted Vauvenarde. "Yes, I did it. I wish I had
burned out his entrails."

Anastasius sprang at him like a tiger cat. I had a quick vision of the
dwarf clinging in the air against the other's bulky form, one hand at
his throat, and then of an incredibly swift flash of steel. The dwarf
dropped off and rolled backwards, revealing something black sticking out
of Vauvenarde's frock-coat--for the second I could not realise what it
was. Then Vauvenarde, with a ghastly face, reeled sideways and collapsed
in a heap on the ground.

CHAPTER XV

Of what happened immediately afterwards I have but a confused memory. I
remember that Lola and I both fell on our knees beside the stabbed man,
and I remember his horrible staring eyes and open mouth. I remember
that, though she was wh