very angry. Never in the course of her pleasant, easy, prosperous life
had anyone ventured to dismiss her in this fashion from their house.

She rose, for the second time during the course of her short meal, to her
feet--

And then, in a flash, there occurred that which transformed her anger
into agonised fear--fear and terror.

The back of her neck had been grazed by something sharp and cold, and as
she gave a smothered cry she saw that her string of pearls had parted in
two. The pearls were now falling quickly one by one, and rolling all over
the floor.

Instinctively she bent down, but as she did so she heard the man behind
her make a quick movement.

She straightened herself and looked sharply round.

L'Ami Fritz was still holding in his hand the small pair of nail scissors
with which he had snipped asunder her necklace; with the other he was in
the act of taking out something from the drawer of the buffet.

She suddenly saw what that something was.

Sylvia Bailey's nerves steadied; her mind became curiously collected and
clear. There had leapt on her the knowledge that this man and woman meant
to kill her--to kill her for the sake of the pearls which were still
bounding about the floor, and for the comparatively small sum of money
which she carried slung in the leather bag below her waist.