irresponsible lunatic, whom chance alone had enabled to
get into her rooms? Whatever the fact might be, the man's last words had
made her aware that her bath really was getting cold. A shiver shook her
whole frame, and yet----

"Oh, go, please go!" she implored him.

He shook his head, an ironical smile in his eyes.

"For pity's sake," she entreated him again, "have mercy on a woman--a
good woman!"

The man appeared to be considering.

"It is very embarrassing," he murmured, "and yet we must decide upon
something soon, for I am most anxious you should not take a chill. Oh,
it is very simple, Princess: of course you know the arrangement of
everything here so well that you could find your dressing-gown at once,
by merely feeling your way? We will put out the light, and then you will
be able to get out of the bath in the dark without the least fear." He
was on the very point of turning off the switch of the lamp, when he
stopped abruptly and came back to the bath. "I was forgetting that
exasperating bell," he said. "A movement is so very easily made: suppose
you were to ring, by mere inadvertence, and regret it afterwards?"
Putting his idea into action, the man made a quick cut with his razor
and severed the two electric wires several feet above the ground. "That
is excellent," he said. "By the way, I don't know where these other two
wires go that run along the wall, but it is best to be on the safe side.
Suppose there were another bell?" He lifted his razor once more and was
trying to sever the electric wires when the steel blade cut the
insulator and an alarming flash of light resulted. The man leaped into
the air, and dropped his razor. "Good Lord!" he growled, "I suppose that
will make you happy, madame: I have burnt my hand most horribly! These
must be wires for the light! But no matter: I have still got one sound
hand, and that will be enough for me to secure the darkness that you
want. And anyhow, you can press the button of your bell as much as you
like: it won't ring. So I am sure of a few more minutes in your
company."

Sudden darkness fell upon the room. Sonia Danidoff hesitated for a
moment and then half rose in the bath. All her pride as a great lady was
in revolt. If she must defend her honour and her life, she was ready to
do so, and despair would give her strength; but in any event she would
be better out of the water, and on her feet, prepared. The darkness was
complete, both in the bathroom and in