as near as possible; then you'll be provided with a chaperon."

"I'm not anxious about myself, but about you," Annesley said. "You
haven't told me yet what happened after you went upstairs at Mrs.
Ellsworth's, and how you knew those men were gone. I suppose you did
know? Or--did you chance it?"

"I was as sure as I needed to be," Nelson Smith answered. "A moment after
I switched on the electricity in the room up there I heard a taxi drive
away. I turned off the light so I could look out. By flattening my nose
against the glass I could see that the place where those chaps had waited
was empty; but in case the taxi was only turning, and meant to pass the
house again, I lit the room once more, for realism.

"That's what kept me rather long--that, and waiting for the dragon to go.
Otherwise I should have been down before Ruthven Smith trapped me.

"For a second it looked as if the game of life was up. And then I found
out how much you meant to me. It was _you_ I thought of. It seemed
beastly hard luck to leave you fast in that old woman's clutches!"

Annesley put out her hand with a warm impulse. He took it, raising it to
his lips, and both were startled when the taxi stopped. They had arrived
at the Savoy: and though Annesley seemed to have lived through a lifetime
of emotion, just one hour and thirty minutes had passed since she and her
companion drove away from these bright revolving doors.

The foyer was as brilliant and crowded as when they left at half-past
ten. People were parting after supper; or they were lingering in the
restaurant beyond. Nobody paid the slightest attention to the newcomers,