er nightly
performance; they were a noticeable couple supping together at the Milan
afterwards. Peter smiled as he read the reports. Monsieur Guillot was
indeed a man of gallantry, but he had the reputation of using these
affairs to cloak his real purpose. Those who watched him watched only
the more closely. Monsieur Guillot, who stood it very well at first,
unfortunately lost his temper. He drove to Berkeley Square in the great
motor-car which he had brought with him from Paris, and confronted
Peter.

"My friend," he exclaimed, though, indeed, the glitter in his eyes knew
nothing of friendship, "it is intolerable, this! Do you think that I do
not see through these dummy waiters, these obsequious shopmen, these
ladies who drop their eyes when I pass, these commissionaires, these
would-be acquaintances? I tell you that they irritate me, this
incompetent, futile crowd. You pit them against me! Bah! You should know
better. When I choose to disappear, I shall disappear, and no one will
follow me. When I strike, I shall strike, and no one will discover what
my will may be. You are out of date, dear Baron, with your third-rate
army of stupid spies. You succeed in one thing only--you succeed in
making me angry."

"It is at least an achievement, that," Peter declared.

"Perhaps," Monsieur Guillot admitted fiercely. "Yet mark now the result.
I defy you, you and all of them. Look at your clock. It is five minutes
to seven. It goes well, that clock, eh?"

"It is the correct time," Peter said.

"Then by midnight," Guillot continued, shaking his fist in the other's
face, "I shall have done that thing which brought me to England, and I
shall have disappeared. I shall have done it in spite of your watchers,
in spite of your spies, in spite, even, of you, Monsieur le Baron de
Grost. There is my challenge. _Voila._ Take it up if you will. At
midnight you shall hear me laugh. I have the honour to wish you good
night!"

Peter opened the door with his own hands.

"This is excellent," he declared. "You are now, indeed, the Monsieur
Guillot of old. Almost you persuade me to take up your challenge."

Guillot laughed derisively.

"As you please!" he exclaimed. "By midnight to-night!"

* * * * *

The challenge of Monsieur Guillot was issued precisely at four minutes
before seven. On his departure, Peter spent the next half-hour studying
certain notes and sending various telephone messages. Afterwards