igured.

XIII. THE VISITOR AT MIDNIGHT

Below the castle and its distressed occupants, in a dark, damp little
room, Grenfall Lorry lived a year in a day. On the night of the
eighteenth, or rather near the break of dawn on the nineteenth, Captain
Quinnox guided him from the dangerous streets of Edelweiss to the secret
passage, and he was safe for the time being. The entrance to the passage
was through a skillfully hidden opening in the wall that enclosed the
park. A stone doorway, so cleverly constructed that it defied detection,
led to a set of steps which, in turn, took one to a long narrow passage.
This ended in a stairway fully a quarter of a mile from its beginning.
Ascending this stairway one came to a secret panel, through which, by
pressing a spring, the interior of the castle was reached. The location
of the panel was in one of the recesses in the wall of the chapel, near
the altar. It was in this chapel that Yetive exchanged her male attire
for a loose gown, weeks before, and the servant who saw her come from
the door at an unearthly hour in the morning believed she had gone there
to seek surcease from the troubles which oppressed her.

Lorry was impatient to rush forth from his place of hiding and to end
all suspense, but Quinnox demurred. He begged the eager American to
remain in the passage until the night of the nineteenth, when, all
things going well, he might be so fortunate as to reach the Princess
without being seen. It was the secret hope of the guilty captain that
his charge could be induced by the Princess to return to the monastery,
to avoid complications. He promised to inform Her Highness of his
presence in the underground room and to arrange for a meeting. The
miserable fellow could not find courage to confess his disobedience
to his trusting mistress. Many times during the day she had seen him
hovering near, approaching and then retreating, and had wondered not a
little at his peculiar manner.

And so it was that Lorry chafed and writhed through a long day of
suspense and agony. Quinnox had brought to the little room some candles,
food and bedding, but he utilized only the former. The hours went by and
no summons called him to her side. He was dying with the desire to hold
her in his arms and to hear her voice again. Pacing to and fro like a
caged animal, he recalled the ride in West Virginia, the scene in her
bed chamber, the day in the throne room and, more delicious than all,
the