irs, had assigned him to detective duty for the
evening's function.

"McCall," she had said, "I want you to disguise yourself as a gentleman
to-night and assist Chief Roberts's man in protecting the house from
gentry who at times manage to gain access to the upper floors in the
course of affairs of this sort. Evening dress will do--at least it is
usually regarded as a good disguise, I believe."

He had received his orders, despite the sarcastic verbiage in which
they were couched, with glowing emotions not easily concealed; they
fitted perfectly with his preconceived determination to bring to a
conclusion that night, once and for all, the situation which had
brought him to The Crags.

He had, in short, resolved, come what might, to ransack Koltsoff's
rooms before dawn--to dump the contents of all drawers in the middle of
the floors, to cut with his knife any bags that might be locked, and in
general to turn the suite inside out. For he had come to the
conclusion that every one, save possibly Prince Koltsoff and the horses
and dogs, knew whom he really was, and that being the case, further
masquerading was nothing short of intolerable.

Then, too, yesterday's talk with Anne Wellington in Lover's Lane was
running through his mind like a thread of gold, and clearly the time
had come, either to meet her with identity unclouded in the minds of
all, or go away and never see her again. As to the last--that depended
on several things: upon second thought, upon one thing, upon Anne
Wellington herself. Throughout the day in her various meetings with
him, she had been markedly impersonal, tacit intimation that from now
on so long as he cared to pose as an employee of the house, he must
accept all the accruing conditions. He understood her position, of
course, and as for his--well, he would attend to it that very night.

He found his bag waiting for him at the ferry and Prince Koltsoff at
the designated place, the Reading Room. The Russian had not worked out
of his irritation, not to say alarm, at the unaccountable disappearance
of his chief lieutenant, but found some comfort in the fact that agents
of the St. Petersburg State Department were already buzzing about
Washington and Boston in regard to the matter of the Austrian
mobilization plans. Armitage found him in a dogged, determined mood.
He, too, was facing a situation which he meant to end that night, and
his plans were all matured.

He went to his room, spent a