butler in the hall.

"Good night, ma'am," he replied, pausing on his rounds to see that
the doors and windows were locked.

Aunt Josephine, clasping the jewel case tightly, mounted the
stairs and entered her room. She locked the door carefully and put
the jewelry case under her pillow. Then she switched off the
light.

The moment Jennings's footsteps ceased down-stairs in the library,
a small piece of the vase seemed to break away from the rest of
the mosaic, as though it were knocked out from the inside. Then a
large piece fell out, and another.

At last from the strange hiding-place a lithe figure, as shiny as
though bathed in oil, naked except for a loin-cloth, seemed to
squirm forth like a serpent. It was Wu Fang--the watchful eye
which, literally as well as figuratively, had been leveled at us
in one form or another ever since the kidnapping of Elaine.

Silently he tiptoed to the doorway and listened. There was not a
sound. Just as noiselessly then he went back to the library table
and muffling the telephone bell, took down the receiver. He
whispered a number, waited, then whispered some directions.

A moment later he wormed his way out of the library and into the
drawing-room. On he went cautiously, snake-like, up the stairs
until he came to the door of Aunt Josephine's room.