pon pointed at his head. He uttered a squeak of amazement and terror.
"_Mon Dieu!_ What is this?"

"Shut up!" Roly dragged the old man from the window, stripped a thick
curtain cord from its hook, and knotted his wrists together.

Alfred offered no resistance; a horrible fear had him by the throat; he
hung like a sack in the younger man's grasp. His eyes alone retained
their activity. These followed Van Dam in a horrified stare; they seemed
about to emerge from their sockets.

Roly deposited his limp captive in a chair and, stepping to the window,
tapped sharply. When Madelon looked up he signaled her to wait. The hall
portieres furnished another cord for Cousin Alfred's ankles, and a
handkerchief served as a gag. As this was being adjusted, however, the
captive quavered, hoarsely:

"Who--are you?"

"I?" Roly laughed. "Why, I am your cousin Emile!"

The householder voiced a thin shriek and began to plead for his life.
Then the remnants of his strength escaped, leaving him a spineless heap
in the great leather chair.

Van Dam bore him in his arms down the hall, searching for a place of
concealment. This he found in a closet, the door of which he closed.
Then he hastened back to the front entrance.

"You kept us waiting sufficiently," Madelon said, as he stepped aside
for the two women to enter.

Roly's eyes were glued upon the taller of the two figures, but Felice
seemed to take no heed of him. He heard her murmuring in a sick, eager
voice:

"Emile! My own beloved! Emile!"

Madelon raised her hand in a warning gesture and the young man shrank
closer into the shadows.

"Courage, dear!" she said to her companion. "We have arrived at last. A
moment now and he will come." She half led, half supported the taller
woman into the library. The next instant she was back at Van Dam's side.
Drawing him into the parlor, across the hall, she exclaimed in a voice
which showed that tears were in her eyes: "Thank Heaven, no one
recognized us! But I was weak with fright. Oh! It was pitiful! I have
wept at every step. She has been calling you like that, night and day.
Go--quickly!" She removed his mask and thrust him into the hall.

This was the most embarrassing moment Van Dam had experienced thus far.
He had been prepared to face eventual discovery, and had decided to make
a clean breast of his part in this comedy when the necessary moment
arrived, but--this was altogether different. Felice was ill,
half-demented. What m