"The car is ready, Hinkes?"

"Yes, sir, as you ordered. Shall Pattison come round to the door?"

"At once."

"Very good, sir."

He withdrew, closing the door quietly, and Monte Irvin stood staring
across the library at the full-length portrait in oils of his wife in
the pierrot dress which she had worn in the third act of The Maid of
the Masque.

The clock in the hall struck half-past eight.



CHAPTER II

THE APARTMENTS OF KAZMAH

It was rather less than two hours earlier on the same evening that
Quentin Gray came out of the confectioner's shop in old Bond Street
carrying a neat parcel. Yellow dusk was closing down upon this bazaar
of the New Babylon, and many of the dealers in precious gems, vendors
of rich stuffs, and makers of modes had already deserted their shops.
Smartly dressed show-girls, saleswomen, girl clerks and others crowded
the pavements, which at high noon had been thronged with ladies of
fashion. Here a tailor's staff, there a hatter's lingered awhile as
iron shutters and gratings were secured, and bidding one another good