ituation. Suddenly a thing happened
stranger than any one of them there had ever dreamed of, so strange that
even men such as Peter, Sogrange and Dory, whose nerves were of iron,
faced one another, doubting and amazed. The floor beneath them rocked
and billowed like the waves of a canvas sea. The windows were filled
with flashes of red light, a great fissure parted the wall, the pictures
and book-cases came crashing down beneath a shower of masonry. It was
the affair of a second. Above them shone the stars and around them a
noise like thunder. Bernadine, who alone understood, was the first to
recover himself. He stood in the midst of them, his hands above his
head, laughing as he looked around at the strange storm, laughing like a
madman.

"The wonderful Carl," he cried. "Oh, matchless servant. Arrest me now,
if you will, you dogs of the police. Rout out my secrets, dear Baron de
Grost. Tuck them under your arm and hurry to Downing Street. This is
the hospitality of the High House, my friends. It loves you so well that
only your ashes shall leave it."

His mouth was open for another sentence when he was struck. A whole
pillar of marble from one of the rooms above came crashing through and
buried him underneath a falling shower of masonry. Peter escaped by a
few inches. Those who were left unhurt sprang through the yawning wall
out into the garden. Sir John, Sogrange and Peter, three of the men--one
limping badly, came to a standstill in the middle of the lawn. Before
them, the house was crumbling like a pack of cards, and louder even than
the thunder of the falling structure was the roar of the red flames.

"The Baroness!" Peter cried, and took one leap forward.

"I am here," she sobbed, running to them from out of the shadows. "I
have lost everything--my jewels, my clothes, all except what I have on.
They gave me but a moment's warning."

"Is there any one else in the house?" Peter demanded.

"No one but you who were in that room," she answered.

"Your companion!"

She shook her head.

"There was no companion," she faltered. "I thought it sounded better
to speak of her. I had her place laid at table, but she never even
existed."

Peter tore off his coat.

"There are the others in the room!" he exclaimed. "We must go back."

Sogrange caught him by the shoulder and pointed to a shadowy group some
distance away.

"We are all out but Bernadine," he said. "For him were is no hope.
Quick!"

They sprang bac