rror and
began nervously smoothing her ruffled hair, while Norris left the room,
and returned with the desired garments.

With the same nervous haste she put on her hat, tied the thick veil over
her face, and allowed herself to be helped into her cloak. Then, without
a word, she crossed the drawing-room, passed through the hall of the
flat, and entered the lift.

At the street-door she was compelled to wait while the hall-porter
called a cab; and the momentary delay almost overtaxed her patience. An
audible sound of relief escaped her when the clatter of hoofs and jingle
of bells announced that the wait was over.

"St. George's Terrace!" she ordered, in a low voice, and it seemed to
her perturbed mind that even the stolid attendant must find something
portentous in the words; then she sank into the corner of the cab and
closed her eyes, as she heard her order repeated to the cabman, and felt
the horse swing forward into the stream of traffic.

More than once she altered her position as the distance between
Knightsbridge and St. George's Terrace lessened. She was devoured by
impatience and yet paralyzed by dread. Once, as the cab halted in a
block of traffic, she heard a clock strike seven, and at the sound the
blood rushed to her face as she thought of the nearness of her ordeal;
but an instant later she drew out her watch to verify the time, and
paled with sudden apprehension as she realized that the clock was slow.

So her mind oscillated until the cab drew up beside the curb; and, with
a nervous start, she heard the cabman open the trap-door.

"What number, lady?" he asked.

[Illustration: "HER HAND WAS TREMBLING AS SHE RAISED THE HEAVY KNOCKER"]

She answered almost guiltily: "No number! Just stop here! Put me down
here!" She rose, gathering her long cloak about her.

Try as she might, she could not control her excitement, as she crossed
the roadway and entered Hellier Crescent after a week's absence. Her
hand was trembling as she raised the heavy knocker on the familiar door;
and her voice shook as she repeated the necessary formula.

There was a slight delay--a slight hesitancy on the part of the
door-keeper; then the slide, which had opened at her knock, closed with
a click, and the massive door swung back.

She stepped forward eagerly, but on the moment that she entered the hall
her heart sank. With a thrill of apprehension she saw that in place of
the humble member of the congregation who usually at