cidly burning in the hall, but its position had
certainly been shifted by at least three feet. It was much nearer the
portiere leading to the inner hall. Hugo listened intently. Not a sound!
And he stared interrogatively at the candle as though the candle were a
guilty thing.

However, he now possessed the revolver of Hawke's man, and this gave him
confidence. He left the perambulating candle to itself, and proceeded to
the inner hall by the light of his own electric lamp. The door of the
principal bedroom, which he had originally meant to invade, lay to his
right; the entrance to the drawing-room lay to his left. He thought he
would take another look at the drawing-room, and then he thought:

'No; I'll tackle the bedroom.'

And he seized the handle of the bedroom door. At the first trial it
would not turn, but in a moment it turned a little, and then turned back
against his pressure.

'Someone's got hold of it inside!' he said to himself.

He put the lamp on a chair, and took the revolver from his pocket in
readiness for any complications that might follow his forcing of the
door.

Then he heard a woman's voice within the bedroom.

'I shall open it, Alb, if you kill me for it. I don't care who it is.
You may be dying of loss of blood. In fact, I'm sure you are.'

And the door was pulled wide open with a single sweeping movement, and
Hugo beheld the figure, slightly dishevelled and more than slightly
perturbed, of Mrs. Albert Shawn.

'Oh, Alb!' cried Lily. 'It's Mr. Hugo! Oh, Mr. Hugo! whatever next will
happen in this world?'

The swift loosing of the tension of Hugo's nerves was too much for his
self-possession. He burst into a peal of loud laughter. It was
unnaturally loud, it was hysterical; but it was genuine laughter, and it
did him good.

Lily straightened herself. So far, she had not admitted Hugo into the
chamber.

'It's all very well for you to laugh like that, Mr. Hugo,' she protested
sharply; 'but perhaps you don't know that you've nearly killed my
husband with that there revolver. The shot came through the door, and
took him in the arm just as he was emptying this safe.'

Hugo saw Albert Shawn lying on the stripped bed, a handkerchief tied
round his arm, and in the corner near the door a large safe opened, and
its contents in a heap on the floor.

'It's all right, sir,' said Albert; 'come in. I'm nowhere near croaking.
I didn't know you were on this lay as well as me, sir. I thought I was