d 17, and took there from the topmost bottle.

'The Romanee-Conti--Prince Eugen's wine!' Babylon exclaimed under his
breath.

Jules neatly and quickly removed the seal with an instrument which he
had clearly brought for the purpose. He then took a little flat box from
his pocket, which seemed to contain a sort of black salve. Rubbing his
finger in this, he smeared the top of the neck of the bottle with it,
just where the cork came against the glass. In another instant he had
deftly replaced the seal and restored the bottle to its position.
He then turned off the light, and made for the aperture. When he was
half-way through Nella exclaimed, 'He will escape, after all. Dad has
not had time--we must stop him.'

But Babylon, that embodiment of caution, forcibly, but nevertheless
politely, restrained this Yankee girl, whom he deemed so rash and
imprudent, and before she could free herself the lithe form of Jules had
disappeared.

Chapter Twenty-Four THE BOTTLE OF WINE

AS regards Theodore Racksole, who was to have caught his man from the
outside of the cellar, he made his way as rapidly as possible from
the wine-cellars, up to the ground floor, out of the hotel by the
quadrangle, through the quadrangle, and out into the top of Salisbury
Lane. Now, owing to the vastness of the structure of the Grand Babylon,
the mere distance thus to be traversed amounted to a little short of
a quarter of a mile, and, as it included a number of stairs, about two
dozen turnings, and several passages which at that time of night were in
darkness more or less complete, Racksole could not have been expected to
accomplish the journey in less than five minutes. As a matter of fact,
six minutes had elapsed before he reached the top of Salisbury Lane,
because he had been delayed nearly a minute by some questions addressed
to him by a muddled and whisky-laden guest who had got lost in the
corridors. As everybody knows, there is a sharp short bend in Salisbury
Lane near the top. Racksole ran round this at good racing speed, but he
was unfortunate enough to run straight up against the very policeman
who had not long before so courteously supplied Jules with a match. The
policeman seemed to be scarcely in so pliant a mood just then.

'Hullo!' he said, his naturally suspicious nature being doubtless
aroused by the spectacle of a bareheaded man in evening dress running
violently down the lane. 'What's this? Where are you for in such a
hurry?'