e and dropped the envelope
upon the smouldering fire. As she did so, the nicely balanced poker
fell with a clatter upon the tiled hearth.

She started wildly, ran back to the table, took up the broken ornament
and was about to thrust it into the open drawer, when the study door
was flung open and Stuart came in.

CHAPTER V

THE SEALED ENVELOPE

"MADEMOISELLE DORIAN!" cried Stuart joyously, advancing with
outstretched hand. She leaned back against the table watching him--and
suddenly he perceived the open drawer. He stopped. His expression
changed to one of surprise and anger, and the girl's slim fingers
convulsively clutched the table edge as she confronted him. Her
exquisite colour fled and left her pallid, dark-eyed and dismayed.

"So," he said bitterly--"I returned none too soon, Mlle.--_Dorian_"

"Oh! she whispered, and shrank from him as he approached nearer.

"Your object in selecting an obscure practitioner for your medical
adviser becomes painfully evident to me. Diagnosis of your case would
have been much more easy if I had associated your symptoms with the
presence in my table drawer of"--he hesitated--"of something which
you have taken out. Give me whatever you have stolen and compose
yourself to await the arrival of the police."

He was cruel in his disillusionment. Here lay the explanation of his
romance; here was his disguised princess--a common thief! She stared
at him wildly.

"I take nothing!" she cried. "Oh, let me go! Please, please let me go!"

"Pleading is useless. What have you stolen?"

"Nothing--see." She cast the little gold ornament on the table. "I
look at this, but I do not mean to steal it."

She raised her beautiful eyes to his face again, and he found himself
wavering. That she had made his acquaintance in order to steal the
fragment of the golden scorpion was impossible, for he had not
possessed it at the time of her first visit. He was hopelessly
mystified and utterly miserable.

"How did you open the drawer?" he asked sternly.

She took up the bunch of keys which lay upon the table and naively
exhibited that which fitted the lock of the drawer. Her hands were
shaking.

"Where did you obtain this key; and why?"

She watched him intently, her lips trembling and her eyes wells of
sorrow into which he could not gaze unmoved.

"If I tell you--will you let me go?"

"I shall make no promises, for I can believe nothing that you may
tell me. You gained my confiden