ght, my lads. Lay hold of the beggar and don't let him
get a chance to make a dash for the stairs. Got him fast, have you?
Good! Now then, Mr. James Colliver, _this_ is what those deluded
women saw--this little dodge, which is going to help Jack Ketch to
come into his own."

Speaking, he walked rapidly across to the long blind, pulled it down
to its full length, then with a wrench tore it wholly from the roller
and whirled it over, so that they who were within could now see
the outer side.

It bore, painted upon it, a perfect representation of the interior
of the glass-room, even to the little spindle-legged table with a
vase of pink roses upon it which _now_ stood at that room's far end.

"A clever idea, Colliver, and a good piece of painting," he said.
"It took me in once--last August--just as it took in Mrs. Sherman
and her daughter yesterday. The mistiness of the lace curtains
falling over it lent just the effect of 'distance' that was required
to perfect the illusion and to prevent anybody from detecting the
paint. As for the boy----Gently, lads, gently! Don't let the beggar
in his struggles make you step on that 'dead soldier.' Under the
thick coating of wax a human body lies--the boy's! Hullo! Gone
off his balance, eh, at the knowledge that the game is entirely up?"
This as Colliver, with a terrible cry, collapsed suddenly and fell
to the floor shrieking and grovelling. "They are a cowardly lot
these brute-beast men when it comes to the wall and the final
corner. Mr. Trent, break this to Miss Larue as gently as you can.
She has suffered a great deal, poor girl, and it is bound to be a
shock. She doesn't know that the woman he called his wife never
really was his wife; she doesn't know about Loti or his threat.
If she had she'd have told me, and I might have got on the trail in
the first case instead of waiting to pick it up like this."

He paused and held up his hand. Through all this Colliver had not
once ceased grovelling and screaming; but it was not his cries that
had drawn that gesture from Cleek. It was the sound of some one
racing at top speed up the outer stairs, and with it the jar of
many excited voices mingled in a babble of utter confusion.

The door of the glass-room swung inward abruptly, and the head
bookkeeper looked in, with a crowd of clerks behind him.

"Mr. Trent, sir, whatever is the matter? Is anybody hurt? I never
heard such screams. The whole place is ringing with them and there's