have always failed."

"What part did Sylvia play in the affair, may I ask?"

"Really," he replied, "I scarcely know. It was so utterly
extraordinary--beyond human credence."

"Tell me--explain to me," I said, instantly interested. What could
this man know of my well-beloved?

He was silent for some minutes. We were still standing by the steps.
Surely it was scarcely the place for an exchange of confidences.

"I fear that monsieur must really excuse me. The matter is
purely a personal one--purely confidential, and concerns myself
alone--just--just as your close acquaintanceship with Mademoiselle
Sylvia concerns you."

"It seems that it concerns other persons as well, if one may judge by
what has recently occurred."

"Ah! Then your enemies have arisen because of your engagement to the
girl--eh?"

"The girl!" How strange! Pennington's mysterious friends of the
Brescia road had referred to her as "the girl." So had those two
assassins in Porchester Terrace! Was it a mere coincidence, or had he,
too, betrayed a collusion with those mean blackguards who had put me
to that horrible torture?

Had you met this strange man at night in St. James's Park, would you
have placed any faith in him? I think not. I maintain that I was
perfectly justified in treating him as an enemy. He was rather too
intimately acquainted with the doings of Harriman and his gang to suit
my liking. Even as he stood there beneath the light of the
street-lamp, I saw that his bright eyes twinkled behind those gold
pince-nez, while the big old-fashioned amethyst he wore on his finger
was a conspicuous object. He gave one the appearance of a prosperous
merchant or shopkeeper.

"What makes you suggest that the attempt was due to my affection for
Sylvia?" I asked him.

"Well, it furnishes a motive, does it not?"

"No, it doesn't. I have no enemies--as far as I am aware."

"But there exists some person who is highly jealous of mademoiselle,
and who is therefore working against you in secret."

"Is that your opinion?"

"I regret to admit that it is. Indeed, Monsieur Biddulph, you have
every need to exercise the greatest care. Otherwise misfortune will
occur to you. Mark what I--a stranger--tell you."

I started. Here again was a warning uttered! The situation was growing
quite uncanny.

"What makes you expect this?"

"It is more than mere surmise," he said slowly and in deep
earnestness. "I happen to know."

From that last sentence of his