a clear tone: "Mary, it's I, Vanno. I've come to find you and take
you away."

There was no answer; but it seemed to him that there was a faint rustle
as of whispering on the other side. He tried the handle. It did not
yield; and Apollonia's yellow eyes sent out a flash of excited
expectation. She looked an amazon, waiting the signal to fall upon an
enemy.

"Lady Dauntrey, I ask that you will open the door," Vanno said.

Almost immediately a key turned in the lock, the door opened quickly,
letting Eve Dauntrey step out, and was closed again by her husband. It
would also have been locked, but before Dauntrey could turn the key,
Vanno twisted the handle round violently, pushed the door back and
thrust his foot into the aperture.

"Take care, Prince," Lady Dauntrey said softly. "You mustn't frighten
her. I assure you we're acting for her good."

Her voice was so calm, so gentle and even sincere that in spite of
himself Vanno was impressed. He ceased to push against the door, but
kept his foot in the opening.

"We were so hoping you'd come," Eve went on, "and I wanted to send for
you, but Mary refused. She said that even if you came she would not see
you, because she had broken off the engagement, and never wished to meet
you again."

"That was all a mistake," Vanno said. "I must see her."

"I quite understand how you feel," Lady Dauntrey agreed, soothingly,
"but don't you think, as she's resting for the first time in more than
thirty hours, you'd better let the poor child have her sleep out first?
I don't know if you are aware that my husband is a doctor; but he is,
and practised in South Africa, very successfully. He's with Mary now,
and has helped me watch over her. The dear girl begged us to come here.
She said there had been trouble between her and your brother and
sister-in-law, so she couldn't stay at their villa. Afterward she told
us about the broken engagement, and that explained the dreadful state of
nervousness she was in from the moment she came to us at Monte Carlo,
till she collapsed here, and became delirious. We have done our very
best--and I'm so thankful to have been with her, though it was most
inconvenient for our plans. We were just ready to start for England when
she appealed to us not to let her come to this dreary, haunted sort of
place by herself. I don't know what would have become of the poor
darling if she'd been alone with this dreadful woman--almost a savage
from the mountains, whom