no more music in the
drawing-room. There were no more people under the drawing-room windows.
The lights in all the lower windows were not what they had been; it was
the bedroom tiers that were illuminated now. But I did not realise that
there was less light outside until I awoke to the fact that Mrs.
Lascelles was peering tentatively toward me, and putting her question in
such an uncertain tone.

"That depends who I am supposed to be," I answered, laughing as I rose
to put my personality beyond doubt.

"How stupid of me!" laughed Mrs. Lascelles in her turn, though rather
nervously to my fancy. "I thought it was Mr. Evers!"

I had hard work to suppress an exclamation. So he had not told her what
he was going to do, and yet he had not forbidden me to tell her. Poor
Bob was more subtle than I had supposed, but it was a simple subtlety, a
strange chord but still in key with his character as I knew it.

"I am sorry to disappoint you," said I. "But I am afraid you won't see
any more of Bob Evers to-night."

"What do you mean?" asked Mrs. Lascelles, suspiciously.

"I wonder he didn't tell you," I replied, to gain time in which to
decide how to make the best use of such an unforeseen opportunity.

"Well, he didn't; so please will you, Captain Clephane?"

"Bob Evers," said I, with befitting gravity, "is climbing the Matterhorn
at this moment."

"Never!"

"At least he has started."

"When did he start?"

"An hour or more ago, with a couple of guides."

"He told you, then?"

"Only just as he was starting."

"Was it a sudden idea?"

"More or less, I think."

I waited for the next question, but that was the last of them. Just then
the interloping cloud floated clear of the moon, and I saw that my
companion was wrapped up as on the earlier night, in the same
unconventional combination of rain-coat and golf-cape; but now the hood
hung down, and the sudden rush of moonlight showed me a face as full of
sheer perplexity and annoyance as I could have hoped to find it, and as
free from deeper feeling.

"The silly boy!" exclaimed Mrs. Lascelles at last. "I suppose it really
is pretty safe, Captain Clephane?"

"Safer than most dangerous things, I believe; and they are the safest,
as you know, because you take most care. He has a couple of excellent
guides; the chance of getting them was partly why he went. In all human
probability we shall have him back safe and sound, and fearfully pleased
with himself, long before