ut
suddenly he extinguished it again, and drew us close in to the rocks
that edged the road. We saw coming toward us in the darkness two
figures. They rode small horses. Their faces could not be seen; but as
they passed our silent, motionless forms, one said in a clear, sweet,
girlish voice:

"Surely they will go?"

"Ay, they'll go, or pay the penalty," said the other voice, and at
the sound of it I started. For it was the voice of my neighbor in the
restaurant, Constantine Stefanopoulos.

"I shall be near at hand, sleeping in the town," said the girl's
voice, "and the people will listen to me."

"The people will kill them, if they do not go," we heard Constantine
answer, in tones that witnessed no great horror at the idea. Then the
couple disappeared in the darkness.

"On to the house!" I cried in sudden excitement. For I was angry now,
angry at the utter, humbling scorn with which they treated me.

Another ten minutes' groping brought us in front of the old gray house
which we had seen from the sea. We walked boldly up to it. The door
stood open. We went in, and found ourselves in a large hall. The
wooden floor was carpeted, here and there, with mats and skins. A
long table ran down the middle. The walls were decorated with mediaeval
armor and weapons. The windows were but narrow slits, the walls
massive and deep. The door was a ponderous, iron-bound affair, that
shamed even the stout doors of our inn. I called loudly, "Is any one
here?" Nobody answered. The servants must have been drawn off to the
town by the excitement of the procession and the singing; or perhaps
there were no servants. I could not tell. I sat down in a large
armchair by the table. I enjoyed the sense of proprietorship. Denny
sat on the table by me, dangling his legs. For a long while none of us
spoke. Then I exclaimed, suddenly:

"By heaven! why shouldn't we see it through?" And I rose and put my
hands against the massive door, and closed and bolted it, saying, "Let
them open that at six o'clock in the morning."

"Hurrah!" cried Denny, leaping down from his table, on fire with
excitement in a moment.

I faced Hogvardt. He shook his head, but he smiled. Watkins stood by,
with his usual imperturbability. He wanted to know what his lordship
decided, that was all; and when I said nothing more, he asked:

"Then your lordship will sleep here to-night?"

"I'll stay here to-night, anyhow, Watkins," said I. "I'm not going to
be driven out of