taken from the gutter! You miserable little sneak-thieves!"

He let loose a flood of abuse that made even Crewe wince.

"Now sit down, both of you," he finished up, out of breath.

He went to the window and looked out. The car which he had hired for the
occasion was still standing at the door and he distinguished Selby
talking to the chauffeur.

"Listen you," he said, "and especially you, Crewe. You're too trusting
with these females. Maybe Lollie's speaking the truth, but it is just as
likely she's lying. I'm not going to take your corroboration, you know,
Crewe," he said. "We've got to depend on her word. There's nobody else
can speak for her, is there?"

Before Crewe could speak the colonel was answered:

"_Jack o' Judgment! Poor old Jack o' Judgment! He'll speak for Lollie!_"

The colonel looked up with a curse. There was nobody in the room, but
the voice had been louder than ever he had heard it before. It seemed as
though it emanated from a disembodied spirit that was floating through
the air. There was a knock at the outer door.

CHAPTER XXXIII

WHERE THE VOICE LIVED

"Open it," said the colonel in a low voice; "open it, Crewe"--he pulled
open the drawer and took out something--"and if it is Jack o'
Judgment----"

Crewe opened the door, his heart beating at a furious rate, but it was
Selby who came into the room and faced the half-levelled gun of the
colonel.

"What do you want?" asked Boundary quickly. "You fool, I told you not to
lose sight of her----"

"But when is she coming down?" asked Selby. "I've been waiting there all
this time and there's a policeman at the corner of the street--I
wondered whether you had seen him too."

"Not come down?" said the colonel. "She left here five minutes ago!"

"She hasn't come down," he said, "and I've certainly not passed her on
the stairs. Is there any other way out?"

"No way that she could use," said the colonel shaking his head. "I've
had new locks put on all the doors." He thought a moment. "If she hasn't
come down she's gone up."

They went up the stairs together and searched, first Pinto's flat, and
then the store-rooms and empty apartments on the floor higher up.

"Go down to the door and wait, in case she tries to get out," said the
colonel.

He returned to the room with the two men and they looked at one another
in frank astonishment.

"Have you any idea what's happened, Crewe?" asked the colonel
suspiciously.

"No idea in the