saw and felt the welcome in her manner.

The blood surged to his head; he mumbled his request. Then, for the
first time, he was near to holding her close in his arms--he was
clasping her fingers, touching her waist, drawing her gently toward his
heart. Once, as they swept around the almost empty ballroom, she looked
up into his eyes. Neither had spoken. His lips parted suddenly and his
fingers closed down upon hers. She saw the danger light in his eyes and
knew the unuttered words that struggled to his lips and stopped there.
She never knew why she did it, but she involuntarily shook her head
before she lowered her eyes. He knew what she meant. His heart turned
cold again and the distance widened once more to the old proportions.

He left her with Bobby Browne and went out upon the cool, starlit
balcony. There he gently cursed himself for a fool, a dolt, an idiot.

The shouts of laughter and the clapping of hands on the inside did not
draw him from his unhappy reverie. He did not know until afterward that
the official announcement of the engagement of Miss Minnie Pelham and
Thomas Saunders was made by Bobby Browne and the health of the couple
drunk in a series of bumpers.

Chase's bitter reflections were at last disturbed by a sound that came
sharply to his attention. He was staring moodily into the night, his
cigarette drooping dejectedly in his lips. The noise came from directly
below where he stood. He peered over the stone railing. The terrace was
barely ten feet below him; a mass of bushes fringed the base of the
wall, dark, thick, fragrant. Some one was moving among these stubborn
bushes; he could hear him plainly. The next moment a dark figure shot
out from the shadows and slunk off into night, followed by another and
another and yet others, seven in all. Chase's mind refused to work
quickly. He stood as one petrified for a full minute, unable to at once
grasp the meaning of the performance.

Then the truth suddenly dawned upon him. The prisoners had escaped from
the dungeon!

He dashed into the ballroom and shouted the alarm. Confusion ensued. He
called out sharp commands as he rushed across to where Deppingham was
chatting with the Princess.

"There's been treachery," he explained quickly. "Some one has released
the prisoners. We must keep them from reaching the walls. They will
overpower our guards and open the gates to the enemy. Britt, see that
the searchlight is trained on the gates. We must stop th