Gimblet, "I think you will own that we have it here. If I had some hint
of the quarter from which you expect danger, I might at least suggest
some rudimentary precautions. What kind of 'accident' do you imagine
likely to occur?"

"That I can't tell," replied Lord Ashiel. "I only know that these enemies
of mine are resourceful people, who are apt to make short work of anyone
whose existence threatens their safety or the success of their designs. I
am, by your help, taking a precaution to ensure that I shall not die
unavenged. They must be taught that murder cannot be committed in this
country with impunity. And I am very careful not to trust myself out of
England. If I crossed the Channel it would be to go to my certain death.
Otherwise I should have gone myself to see Sir Arthur Byrne. But in this
island the man who kills even so unpopular a person as a member of the
House of Lords does not get off with a few years' imprisonment, as he may
in some of the continental countries; and the Nihilists, for the most
part, know that as well as I do."

Gimblet followed Lord Ashiel into the hall with the intention of showing
him out of the flat, but the sudden sound of the door bell ringing made
him abandon this courtesy and retreat to shelter.

He did not wish to be denied all possibility of refusing an interview to
some one he might not want to see.

So it was Higgs who opened the door and ushered out the last visitor, at
the same time admitting the newcomer.

This proved to be a small, slight woman dressed in deepest black and
wearing the long veil of a widow, who was standing with her back to the