he had ever seen Natasha carry her pistol openly.
Wondering greatly what this strange sight might mean, he waited with
breathless anxiety for the drama to begin.

As Natasha took her stand at the opposite end of the table, the
figure in the chair at the top rose and unmasked, displaying the
pallid countenance of the Chief of the American Section. He looked to
Arnold anything but a bridegroom awaiting his bride, and the ceremony
which was to unite him to her for ever. His cheeks and lips were
bloodless, and his eyes wandered restlessly from Natasha to Tremayne
and back again. He glanced to and fro in silence for several moments,
and when he at last found his voice he said, in half-choked, broken
accents--

"What is this? Why am I honoured by the presence of the Chief and the
Admiral of the Air? I asked only that if the Master consented to
grant my humble petition in reward for my services, the daughter of
Natas should come attended simply by a sister of the Brotherhood and
the messenger that I sent."

They let him finish, although it was with manifest difficulty that he
stammered to the end of his speech. Arnold, still wondering at the
strange turn events had taken, saw Tremayne's lips tighten and his
brows contract in the effort to repress a smile. The other masked
figures at the table moved restlessly in their seats, and glanced
from one to another. Seeing this, Tremayne stepped quickly forward to
Natasha's side, and said in a stern, commanding tone--

"I am the Chief of the Central Council, and I order every one here to
keep his seat and remain silent until the daughter of Natas has
spoken."

The ten masked and hooded heads instantly bowed consent. Then
Tremayne stepped back again, and Natasha spoke. There was a keen,
angry light in her eyes, and a bright flush upon her cheek, but her
voice was smooth and silvery, and in strange contrast to the words
that she used, almost to the end.

"Did you think, Michael Roburoff, that the Master of the Terror would
send his daughter to her bridal so poorly escorted as you say? Surely
that would have been almost as much of a slight as you put upon me
when, instead of coming to woo me as a true lover should have done,
you contented yourself with sending a messenger as though you were
some Eastern potentate despatching an envoy to demand the hand of the
daughter of a vassal.

"It would seem that this sudden love which you do me the honour to
profess for me has destroyed y