tery, as you have termed
it, of his disappearance that morning, is that he went upstairs with
Hagon for several hours to undergo a medical examination, instead of
leaving the building forthwith."

"Queer thing I never thought of Hagon," Francis remarked. "As a matter
of fact, I never see him in the Temple, and I thought that he had left."

"May I ask," Wilmore intervened, "when my brother will be free to return
to his home?"

"To-night, directly the fight is over," Sir Timothy replied. "Should he
be successful, he will take with him a sum of money sufficient to start
him in any business he chooses to enter."

Wilmore frowned slightly.

"But surely," he protested, "that would make him a professional
pugilist?"

"Not at all," Sir Timothy replied. "For one thing, the match is a
private one in a private house, and for another the money is a gift.
There is no purse. If your brother loses, he gets nothing. Will you see
the fight, Mr. Wilmore?"

"Yes, I will see it," was the somewhat reluctant assent.

"You will give me your word not to interfere in any way?"

"I shall not interfere," Wilmore promised. "If they are wearing
regulation gloves, and the weights are about equal, and the conditions
are what you say, it is the last thing I should wish to do."

"Capital!" Sir Timothy exclaimed. "Now to pass on. There is one other
feature of my entertainments concerning which I have something to say--a
series of performances which takes place on my launch at odd times.
There is one fixed for tonight. I can say little about it except that
it is unusual. I am going to ask you, Lady Cynthia, and you, Ledsam, to
witness it. When you have seen that, you know everything. Then you and
I, Ledsam, can call one another's hands. I shall have something else to
say to you, but that is outside the doings here."

"Are we to see the fight in the gymnasium?" Lady Cynthia enquired.

Sir Timothy shook his head.

"I do not allow women there under any conditions," he said. "You and
Margaret had better stay here whilst that takes place. It will probably
be over in twenty minutes. It will be time then for us to find our way
to the launch. After that, if you have any appetite, supper. I will
order some caviare sandwiches for you," Sir Timothy went on, ringing the
bell, "and some wine."

Lady Cynthia smiled.

"It is really a very wonderful party," she murmured.

Their host ushered the two men across the hall, now comparatively
deserted, fo