earth to have it set aside."

"The truth," she murmured, with her eyes fixed upon him. "Well----"

She stopped short. He looked at her in some embarrassment.

"Forgive me," he said, "but I want to hear it from your sister. It is
her duty to tell me, and I would not have her think that I had been
trying to work upon your sympathies to learn her secrets."

She was silent.

"You will go and see her," he begged.

"Yes, I will go," she promised, with a queer little smile. "It is
against my husband's orders, and I am not sure that my sister will be
particularly glad to see me. But I will go."

"I shall always be grateful to you," he declared.

"Don't be too sure of that," she answered enigmatically.

_Chapter XXIII_

MONTAGUE HILL SEES LIGHT AT LAST

At exactly ten minutes past ten Annabel rang the bell of her sister's
flat. There was no response. She rang again with the same result.
Then, as she was in the act of turning reluctantly away, she noticed a
thin crack between the door and the frame. She pushed the former and
it opened. The latch had not fully caught.

The flat was apparently empty. Annabel turned on the electric light
and made her way into the sitting-room. There was a coffee equipage on
the table, and some sandwiches, and the fire had been recently made
up. Annabel seated herself in an easy chair and determined to wait for
her sister's return.

The clock struck half-past ten. The loneliness of the place somewhat
depressed her. She took up a book and threw it down again. Then she
examined with curiosity some knick-knacks upon a small round table by
her side. Amongst them was a revolver. She handled it half fearfully,
and set it carefully down again. Then for the first time she was
conscious of an unaccountable and terrifying sensation. She felt that
she was not alone.

She was only a few yards from the door, but lacked the courage to rise
and fly. Her knees shook, her breath came fast, she almost felt the
lurid effect of those tiny patches of rouge upon her pallor-stricken
cheeks. Her eyes were dilated--fixed in a horrified stare at the
parting in the curtains which hung before the window.

There was some one there. She had seen a man's head steal out for a
moment and draw the curtains a little closer. Even now she could trace
the outline of his shape behind the left-hand curtain. She was wholly
unable to conceal her knowledge of his presence. A little smothered
cry broke from her lips