'it will be safer to know just how we stand. We can't afford
any ambushes or things of that kind, you know.'

The Prince agreed, and they searched the house from top to bottom, but
found no one. Then, having locked the front door and the french window
of the sitting-room, they proceeded again to the cellar.

Here a new obstacle confronted them. The cellar door was, of course,
locked; there was no sign of a key, and it appeared to be a heavy door.
They were compelled to return to the bedroom where Miss Spencer was
incarcerated, in order to demand the key of the cellar from her. She
still lay without movement on the bed.

'Tom's got it,' she replied, faintly, to their question: 'Tom's got it,
I swear to you. He took it for safety.'

'Then how do you feed your prisoner?' Racksole asked sharply.

'Through the grating,' she answered.

Both men shuddered. They felt she was speaking the truth. For the third
time they went to the cellar door. In vain Racksole thrust himself
against it; he could do no more than shake it.

'Let's try both together,' said Prince Aribert. 'Now!' There was a
crack.

'Again,' said Prince Aribert. There was another crack, and then the
upper hinge gave way. The rest was easy. Over the wreck of the door they
entered Prince Eugen's prison.

The captive still sat on his chair. The terrific noise and bustle of
breaking down the door seemed not to have aroused him from his lethargy,
but when Prince Aribert spoke to him in German he looked at his uncle.

'Will you not come with us, Eugen?' said Prince Aribert; 'you needn't
stay here any longer, you know.'

'Leave me alone,' was the strange reply; 'leave me alone. What do you
want?'

'We are here to get you out of this scrape,' said Aribert gently.
Racksole stood aside.

'Who is that fellow?' said Eugen sharply.

'That is my friend Mr Racksole, an Englishman--or rather, I should say,
an American--to whom we owe a great deal. Come and have supper, Eugen.'

'I won't,' answered Eugen doggedly. 'I'm waiting here for her. You
didn't think anyone had kept me here, did you, against my will? I tell
you I'm waiting for her. She said she'd come.'

'Who is she?' Aribert asked, humouring him.

'She! Why, you know! I forgot, of course, you don't know. You mustn't
ask.

Don't pry, Uncle Aribert. She was wearing a red hat.'

'I'll take you to her, my dear Eugen.' Prince Aribert put his hands on
the other's shoulder, but Eugen shook him off violently