he lies!"

Her big eyes were fixed upon mine, her countenance blanched to the lips,
and her breath came and went in short, quick gasps.

At last her lips moved, as we all gazed at her. Her voice was only a
hoarse, broken whisper.

"I--I can't!" she replied, and fell back into my arms in a swoon.

"You see!" laughed the accused man. "You, Royle, are so clever that you
only bring grief and disaster upon yourself. I prevented Mrs. Petre from
telling the truth because I thought you had decided to drop the affair."

"What?" I cried. "When your accomplice--that woman Petre--made a
dastardly attempt upon my life at your instigation, and left me for dead.
Drop the affair--never! You are an assassin, and you shall suffer the
penalty."

"And so will Phrida Shand. She deceived you finely--eh? I admire her
cleverness," he laughed "She was a thorough Sport, she----"

"Enough!" commanded Edwards roughly. "I give you into the custody of
Inspector Fremy, of the Belgian Surete, on a charge of murder committed
within the Republic of Peru."

"And I also arrest the prisoner," added Fremy, "for offences committed in
London and within the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg."

The man, pale and haggard-eyed notwithstanding his bravado, started
visibly at the famous detective's words, while at that moment the two men
from Brussels appeared in the room, having released the white-whiskered
man-servant, who stood aghast and astounded oh the threshold. I supported
my love, now quite unconscious, in my strong arms, and was trying to
restore her, in which I was immediately aided by one of the detectives.

The scene was an intensely dramatic one--truly an unusual scene to take
place in the house of the sedate old Baron Terwindt, ancient Ministre de
la Justice of Belgium.

I was bending over my love and dashing water into her face when we were
all suddenly startled by a loud explosion, and then we saw in Cane's hand
a smoking revolver.

He had fired at me--and, fortunately, missed me.

In a second, however, the officers fell upon him, and after a brief but
desperate struggle, in which a table and chairs were overturned, the
weapon was wrenched from his grasp.

"Eh! bien," exclaimed Fremy, when the weapon had been secured from the
accused. "As you will have some unpleasant things to hear, you may as
well listen to some of them now. You have denied your guilt. Well, I will
tell Inspector Edwards what I have discovered concerning you and your
cunn