'And the men?' he gasped.

'Seen neither of them, sir. She put this note in my hand as she passed
me, sir.'




CHAPTER VI

A LAPSE FROM AN IDEAL


'If you please, sir,' said Simon Shawn, when he brought Hugo's tea the
next morning, 'I am informed that a man has secreted himself on the
summit of the dome.'

Hugo, lying moveless on his back, and ignoring even the tea, made no
reply to this speech. He was still repeating to himself the following
words, which, by constant iteration, had assumed in his mind the force
and emphasis of italics: _'So grateful for your sympathetic help. When
next I see you, if there is opportunity, I will try to thank you.
Meantime, all is well with me. Please trouble no more. And forget.'_
Such were the exact terms of the note from Camilla Payne delivered to
him by Albert Shawn. Of course, he knew it by heart. It was scribbled
very hastily in pencil on half a sheet of paper, and it bore no
signature, not even a solitary initial. If it had not been handed to
Albert by Camilla in person, Hugo might have doubted its genuineness,
and might have spent the night in transgressing the law of trespass and