culate any sound other than a gurgle when I tried to cry out. And yet
I remained in a state of consciousness, half blotted out by those weird,
fantastic and dreamy shapes, due apparently to the effect of that wine
upon my brain.

Had I been deliberately poisoned? The startling truth flashed across my
mind just as I heard a low stealthy movement behind me.

Yes. I was helpless there, in the hands of my enemies. I, wary as I
believed myself to be, had fallen into a trap cunningly prepared by that
clever woman who was Digby's accomplice.

I now believed all that Edwards had told me of the man's cunning and his
imposture. How that he had assumed the identity of a clever and renowned
man who had died so mysteriously in South America. Perhaps he had killed
him--who could tell?

As these bitter thoughts regarding the man whom I had looked upon as a
friend flitted through my brain, I saw to my amazement, standing boldly
before me, the woman Petre with two men, one a dark-bearded,
beetle-browed, middle-aged man of Hindu type--a half-caste
probably--while the other was the young man who had admitted me.

The Hindu bent until his scraggy whiskers almost touched my cheek,
looking straight into my eyes with keen, intent gaze, but without
speaking.

I saw that the young man had carried a small deal box about eighteen
inches square, which he had placed upon the round mahogany table in the
centre of the room.

This table the woman pushed towards my chair until I was seated before
it. But she hardly gave me a glance.

I tried to speak, to inquire the reason of such strange proceedings, but
it seemed that the drug which had been given me in that wine had produced
entire muscular paralysis. I could not move, neither could I speak. My
brain was on fire and swimming, yet I remained perfectly conscious,
horrified to find myself so utterly and entirely helpless.

The sallow-faced man, in whose black eyes was an evil, murderous look,
and upon whose thin lips there played a slight, but triumphant smile,
took both my arms and laid them straight upon the table.

I tried with all my power to move them, but to no purpose. As he placed
them, so they remained.

Then, for the first time, the woman spoke, and addressing me, said in a
hard, harsh tone:

"You are Digby's enemy, and mine, Mr. Royle. Therefore you will now see
the manner in which we treat those who endeavour to thwart our ends. You
have been brave, but your valour has not av