d a proof of innocence, now made him seem a
monster of insensibility. Sartorius was not human; he was the python
of Esther's dream, slow-blooded, impersonal, relentless....

The clock struck four. Some time after this he must have lost
consciousness, for gradually his waking thoughts blurred imperceptibly
into unreal, his head resting heavily on the bed beside the sleeping
girl. He was roused by a touch on his shoulder and a voice saying
tensely in his ear:

"Mr. Roger! Mr. Roger, sir!"

Dizzily he raised his head, blinking in the grey daylight that filled
the room. Then he struggled to his feet, stiff and cramped.

"Yes, Chalmers, what is it?"

"Her ladyship, sir--she's not in her room. She's not in the house.
She's gone, sir!"

CHAPTER XXXVII

"Gone! What do you mean? How could she get away?"

"That's what we don't know, sir. We----"

"Who is we?" demanded Roger sharply.

"I mean Aline, sir; it was she who found it out. I've been about the
house the whole night, sir; I've never closed my eyes. No one could
have got past me without my knowing it."

Roger glanced at the bed. Esther still slept, the rings around her
eyes darker than ever in the cold morning light.

"Come outside," he said in a lower tone. "We mustn't disturb Miss
Rowe. Now tell me."

"It's just as I say, sir. It seems she had told Aline to bring her
some tea at six o'clock. I couldn't say what she had in mind to be
wanting it so early; it seems as if she was planning to go out before
anyone was up, but I don't know, sir. Anyhow, when Aline did bring the
tea a moment ago, the room was empty; the bed hadn't been touched."

"You've searched the house?"

"Only partly, sir."

"What about the back stairs?"

"I don't think she could have come out of her room at all, sir, without
my knowing; and in any case last night I locked the tradesmen's door
and put the key in my pocket."

Roger rapidly reconnoitred.

"Stay here till I call my aunt," he ordered. "Whatever you do, don't
stir from this spot. I am afraid to leave Miss Rowe alone for a single
moment."

In a few minutes he returned with Miss Clifford, whom he had found wide
awake, on the point of donning her dressing-gown to come and relieve
him. He told her nothing about Therese's disappearance, merely
cautioning her strongly against leaving Esther unguarded.

"You must grasp this fact, Dido," he said gravely, looking her straight
in the eyes. "Esther is