neatly
broken. I came to tell you that your cousin Emile is in the city."

The effect of these words was amazing, electric. Cousin Alfred turned a
corpselike green; he froze in his tracks; his eyes rolled in their
sockets.

"Emile! Here!" His teeth chattered, he plucked at his collar as if he
were strangling. "Then--you? Who are you?"

Roly shrugged. "I am one of the others. I was sent to warn you." He
recognized now the character of the old fellow's emotion. It was
cowardice, terror, but of such utter foulness as to be disgusting.

Evidently this Emile, whoever he was, had a reputation. Roly multiplied
his host's discomfiture by adding:

"Yes; he struck down the Wolf in the street; then dropped the Spider on
his head from the top of a staircase."

"God help us!" stammered Cousin Alfred. "He will take me next! Oh, he
has threatened me--" He cast a frightened glance over his shoulder, as
if expecting the sanguinary Emile to appear at any moment. Then he began
to whine: "I know him, I know him. And the servants gone! I--I am an old
man; he would like nothing better than to find me alone. But how--how
dared he come? Wait! It was Felice. Ho! I'll wager she sent for him; and
he would not refuse, the scoundrel!" The speaker's lips were wet and
loose, his gaze was very evil as he mumbled along.

Felice must be the other girl, the one for whom Madelon had gone, Roly
decided. In view of Alfred's evident hatred, it did not seem right to
allow Madelon to bring the other girl without some warning. One glance
at those working features convinced the young man that such a meeting
would be dangerous; and yet he was quite at a loss how to prevent it.
His host was running on.

"It was only yesterday that she appealed to me, she and Madelon, and all
the time they knew he was coming." He ground his teeth. "I have been a
fool to spare them so long."

"This Felice," Van Dam ventured, groping blindly for some clue, "your
cousin Emile is fond of her, I judge."

"Damnation! He would pass through fire for her. And she would sacrifice
her soul for him." Alfred poured himself a drink with shaking hand. The
glass rattled against the decanter; he spilled the wine over his
waistcoat as he gulped it.

"So they planned to catch me napping, eh? But we shall see. Yes, yes! We
shall see." After a moment, during which he pulled himself together, he
continued: "You shall remain here with me. When he comes we shall afford
him a surprise." He sl