ke withdrew from
further conflict or argument with the unfortunate young man, whom he had
so deliberately and so hopelessly ruined.

And because he thus kept aloof, his ears were not so completely filled
with the din, nor his mind so wholly engrossed by the hand-to-hand
struggle between the two young men, that he did not perceive that other
sound, which, in spite of barred windows and drawn curtains, came up
from the street below.

At first he had only listened carelessly to the measured tramp. But the
cry of "Halt!" issuing from immediately beneath the windows caused his
cheeks to blanch and his muscles to stiffen with a sudden sense of fear.

He cast a rapid glance all around. Segrave and Lambert--both flushed and
panting--were forcibly held apart. Sir Marmaduke noted with a grim smile
that the latter was obviously the center of a hostile group, whilst
Segrave was surrounded by a knot of sympathizers who were striving
outwardly to pacify him, whilst in reality urging him on through their
unbridled vituperations directed against the other man.

The noise of arguments, of shrill voices, of admonitions and violent
abuse had in no sense abated.

Over the sea of excited faces Sir Marmaduke caught the wide-open,
terrified eyes of Editha de Chavasse.

She too, had heard.

He beckoned to her across the room with a slight gesture of the hand,
and she obeyed the silent call as quickly as she dared, working her way
round to him, without arousing the attention of the crowd.

"Do not lose your head," he whispered as soon as she was near him and
seeing the wild terror expressed in every line of her face. "Slip into
the next room ... and leave the door ajar.... Do this as quietly as may
be ... now ... at once ... then wait there until I come."

Again she obeyed him silently and swiftly, for she knew what that cry of
"Halt!" meant, uttered at the door of her house. She had heard it, even
as Sir Marmaduke had done, and after it the peremptory knocks, the loud
call, the word of command, followed by the sound of an awed and
supplicating voice, entering a feeble protest.

She knew what all that meant, and she was afraid.

As soon as Sir Marmaduke saw that she had done just as he had ordered,
he deliberately joined the noisy groups which were congregated around
Segrave and Lambert.

He pushed his way forward and anon stood face to face with the young man
on whom he had just wreaked such an irreparable wrong. Not a thought of