tered
Mr. Ramsdell's house as a waiter!

Mr. Grey did not show surprise, but he made a gesture, when instantly
the tray was thrown aside and the man resumed his ordinary aspect.

"I see you understand me," he cried. "I who have played host at many
a ball, passed myself off that night as one of the waiters. I came and
went and no one noticed me. It is such a natural sight to see a waiter
passing ices that my going in and out of the alcove did not attract the
least attention. I never look at waiters when I attend balls. I never
look higher than their trays. No one looked at me higher than my tray. I
held the stiletto under the tray and when I struck her she threw up her
hands and they hit the tray and the cups fell. I have never been able to
bear the sound of breaking china since. I loved her--"

A gasp and he recovered himself.

"That is neither here nor there," he muttered. "You summoned me under
threat to present myself at your door to-day. I have done so. I meant
to restore you your diamond, simply. It has become worthless to me. But
fate exacted more. Surprise forced my secret from me. That young lady
with her damnable awkwardness has put my head in a noose. But do
not think to hold it there. I did not risk this interview without
precautions, I assure you, and when I leave this hotel it will be as a
free man."

With one of his rapid changes, wonderful and inexplicable to me at the
moment, he turned toward me with a bow, saying courteously enough:

"We will excuse the young lady."

Next moment the barrel of a pistol gleamed in his hand.

The moment was critical. Mr. Grey stood directly in the line of fire,
and the audacious man who thus held him at his mercy was scarcely a foot
from the door leading into the hall. Marking the desperation of his look
and the steadiness of his finger on the trigger, I expected to see Mr.
Grey recoil and the man escape. But Mr. Grey held his own, though he
made no move, and did not venture to speak. Nerved by his courage, I
summoned up all my own. This man must not escape, nor must Mr. Grey
suffer. The pistol directed against him must be diverted to myself.
Such amends were due one whose good name I had so deeply if secretly
insulted. I had but to scream, to call out for the inspector, but a
remembrance of the necessity we were now under of preserving our secret,
of keeping from Mr. Grey the fact that he had been under surveillance,
was even at that moment surrounded by the poli