the
matter in the hope of tracing the mysterious caller, we found that Jane
Catherboys was no longer in need of a position; that she had been
married for eight months; that she knew nothing whatever of the woman,
and had sent no one to inquire into her references."

"All of which shows, my dear Cleek," put in Narkom significantly, "that,
whatever hand is directing these attempts, it belongs to one who knows
more than a mere outsider possibly could. In short, to one who is aware
of the little boy's excessive fondness for sugared violets, and is aware
that Lady Chepstow once did have a maid named Jane Catherboys."

"If," said Cleek, "you mean to suggest by that that this points
suspiciously in Captain Hawksley's direction, Mr. Narkom, permit me to
say that it does not necessarily follow. The clever people of the
under-world do nothing by halves nor without careful inquiry beforehand;
that is what makes the difference between the common pickpocket and the
brilliant swindler." He turned to Ailsa. "Is that all, Miss Lorne, or am
I right in supposing that there is even worse to come?"

"Oh, much worse, Mr. Cleek! The knowledge that these would-be murderers,
whoever they are, whatever may be their mysterious motive, have grown
desperate enough to invade the house itself has driven Lady Chepstow
well-nigh frantic. Of course, orders were immediately given to the
servants that no stranger, no matter how well dressed, how well seeming,
nor what the plea, was, from that moment, to be allowed past the
threshold. We felt secure in that, knowing that no servant of the
household would betray his trust, and that all would be on the constant
watch for any further attempt. The unknown enemy must have found out
about these precautions, for no stranger came again to the door. But
last night a thing we had never counted upon happened. In the dead of
the night the unknown broke into the house, into the very nursery
itself, and but that Lady Chepstow, impelled she does not know by what,
rose and carried the sleeping child into her own bed, he would assuredly
have been murdered. The nurse, awakened by a horrible suffocating
sensation, opened her eyes to find a man bending over her with a
chloroform-soaked cloth, which he was about to lay over her face. She
shrieked and fainted, but not before she saw the man spring to the
little bed on the other side of her own, hack furiously at it with a
long, murderous knife, then dart to the window and va