y, where the devil did you learn that trick?" he cried.

Sogrange laughed scornfully.

"Trick!" he exclaimed. "Philip Burr, you are unworthy of your position.
I am the Marquis de Sogrange, and my friend here is the Baron de Grost."

Mr. Philip Burr had no words. His cigar had dropped on to the carpet. He
was simply staring.

"If you need proof," Sogrange continued, "further than any I have given
you, I have in my pocket, at the present moment, a letter, signed by you
yourself, pleading for formal reinstatement. This is how you would
qualify for it! You make use of your power to run a common decoy house,
to do away with men for money. What fool gave you our names, pray?"

Mr. Philip Burr was only the wreck of a man. He could not even control
his voice.

"It was some German or Belgian nobleman," he faltered. "He brought us
excellent letters, and he made a large contribution. It was the Count
von Hern."

The anger of Sogrange seemed suddenly to fade away. He threw himself
into a chair by the side of his companion.

"My dear Baron," he exclaimed, "Bernadine has scored, indeed! Your
friend has a sense of humour which overwhelms me. Imagine it. He has
delivered the two heads of our great society into the hands of one of
its cast-off branches! Bernadine is a genius, indeed!"

Mr. Philip Burr began slowly to recover himself. He waved his hand. Nine
out of the twelve men left the room.

"Marquis," he said, "for ten years there has been no one whom I have
desired to meet so much as you. I came to Europe, but you declined to
receive me. I know very well we can't keep our end up like you over
there, because we haven't politics and those sort of things to play
with, but we've done our best. We've encouraged only criminology of the
highest order. We've tried all we can to keep the profession select. The
gaol-bird pure and simple we have cast out. The men who have suffered at
our hands have been men who have met with their deserts."

"What about us?" Peter demanded. "It seems to me that you had most
unpleasant plans for our future."

Philip Burr held up his hands.

"As I live," he declared, "this is the first time that any money
consideration has induced me to break away from our principles. Count
von Hern had powerful friends who were our friends, and he gave me the
word, straight, that you two had an appointment down below which was
considerably overdue. I don't know, even now, why I consented. I guess
it isn't much