Sagan, under
the iron throttling fingers snatched at his hunting-knife and stabbed
fiercely upwards between the bent arms at the Guardsman's throat.

Inside the room the heavy breathing and struggling of the men on the
floor seemed to Elmur loud enough to alarm the whole Castle, in spite of
the furious screaming of the gale. He sprang to the writhing heap and
tried to pinion Colendorp, but as he touched him the wounded man fell
back. In a moment Sagan was on his feet calling on Elmur to bring the
lamp. He seized Colendorp under the arm and shoved him roughly towards
the wall, where throwing back a curtain he opened a door and thrust the
tottering figure before him down a short flight of steps. Then another
door was opened and the _tsa_ swept in with a wild yell, for a moment
holding upright the failing man who staggered out on to the snowy
terrace, making a tragic centre to the flickering path of light cast by
the lamp in Elmur's hand.

For an instant Colendorp stood swaying on the yielding snow by the edge
of the precipice, and as he swayed his voice climbed through his broken
throat--

'Maasau the Free! Long live the Duke! The Duke's man ... I ... Colendorp
of ...'

The wind had lulled for a second. Again the mad blast caught and
wrenched Colendorp's figure, the snow gave between his feet, and he
plunged forward heavily into the gorge of the Kofn river. The broken
snow, whirled up in a great cloud by the eddying gusts, shone in the
lamplight for a second like a wild toss of spray, then settled again
upon the narrow terrace, obliterating all marks there. A window overhead
was pushed open, but already the band of light upon the snow was gone,
and nothing remained for Valerie's eyes but a chaos of gloom. Yet she
had seen something. Dimly through the double glass she had discerned the
green and gold of the Guard on the swaying figure before it dropped away
for ever into the night.

CHAPTER XVI.

'WITH YOUR LIPS TO THE HURT.'

A few minutes later a knocking came to Madame de Sagan's door. It was
low and urgent. She ran to open it, her heart in her throat. A hand
pushed her aside with the rough careless force of full control. She
recoiled with an exclamation, for a glance showed her that the Count was
in one of his most deadly moods.

'What have you done--where is Selpdorf's daughter?' he snarled.

As Madame de Sagan shrank from the menacing hand the door opened a
second time, and Valerie herself stumbl