and carried his plan into execution, a system of
tormenting her.

"You did not know," he turned to T. X., "that scarcely a month passed,
but some disreputable villain called at her flat, with a story that he
had been released from Portland or Wormwood Scrubbs that morning and
that he had seen me. The story each messenger brought was one sufficient
to break the heart of any but the bravest woman. It was a story of
ill-treatment by brutal officials, of my illness, of my madness, of
everything calculated to harrow the feelings of a tender-hearted and
faithful wife.

"That was Kara's scheme. Not to hurt with the whip or with the knife,
but to cut deep at the heart with his evil tongue, to cut to the raw
places of the mind. When he found that I was to be released,--he may
have guessed, or he may have discovered by some underhand method; that a
pardon was about to be signed,--he conceived his great plan. He had less
than two days to execute it.

"Through one of his agents he discovered a warder who had been in some
trouble with the authorities, a man who was avaricious and was even then
on the brink of being discharged from the service for trafficking with
prisoners. The bribe he offered this man was a heavy one and the warder
accepted.

"Kara had purchased a new monoplane and as you know he was an excellent
aviator. With this new machine he flew to Devon and arrived at dawn in
one of the unfrequented parts of the moor.

"The story of my own escape needs no telling. My narrative really begins
from the moment I put my foot upon the deck of the Mpret. The first
person I asked to see was, naturally, my wife. Kara, however, insisted
on my going to the cabin he had prepared and changing my clothes, and
until then I did not realise I was still in my convict's garb. A
clean change was waiting for me, and the luxury of soft shirts and
well-fitting garments after the prison uniform I cannot describe.

"After I was dressed I was taken by the Greek steward to the larger
stateroom and there I found my darling waiting for me."

His voice sank almost to a whisper, and it was a minute or two before he
had mastered his emotions.

"She had been suspicious of Kara, but he had been very insistent. He had
detailed the plans and shown her the monoplane, but even then she would
not trust herself on board, and she had been waiting in a motor-boat,
moving parallel with the yacht, until she saw the landing and realized,
as she thought, tha