'I do not believe it!
I will never believe it!' A number of legal documents were spread out
upon the table, and De Gex was holding one of them in his hand."

"Then the object of the visit of the precious pair seems to have been
to disclose some hitherto well-guarded secret to the widow of the
Spanish financier--eh?"

"Yes," my friend agreed. "It certainly seems so," and then he rose and
left. Downstairs in the palm court the gay crowd was pouring through
to the restaurant for supper after the theatre, for smart Madrid is
gay at night, and there is as much dancing and fun there, on a smaller
scale of course, as there is in the West End. The pretty dresses, the
laughter, the sibilant whispers, and the claw-hammer coat are the same
in Madrid and Bucharest as in London or Paris, or any other capital.
The hour of midnight is the same hour of relaxation when even judges
smile after their day upon the bench, and the blue-stocking will laugh
at a risky story.

So after Harry had gone, refusing to have supper with me lest somebody
should notice us together, I strolled about, and selecting a table in
the corner, ate my solitary meal, having had no dinner that day.

It was past midnight before I ascended in the lift to my room. I
undressed and when in bed I read the _Heraldo_ until I suppose I
dropped off to sleep.

I knew nothing until later I was awakened by some slight movement. In
an instant I was seized by a strange intuition of danger, and my wits
became acute. Next second I was on the alert. There had been three
lights burning when I retired, now there was but one. I had bolted my
door, yet it was now slightly ajar!

I lay and listened. Outside I heard the hum of a car receding across
the great square. Afterwards a church bell began to clang
discordantly, as they all do in Spain.

The light was over the dressing-table in the corner, and so shaded
that the room was quite dim.

Someone had been in my room! I grasped my automatic pistol which I
kept under the pillow, and jumping out of bed crossed to the
dressing-table where I had put my watch and bank-note-case on taking
them from my pocket. As I did so I heard the click of an electric
light switch, and next instant the room was in darkness.

For a second I was nonplussed. I knew, however, that I was not alone
in the room, so I dashed across to the door, my pistol in my hand, and
gaining it before the intruder could escape, turned on the lights.

Before me stood