ed of its prey,
looked up suddenly as the narrator paused, with an exasperation which he
made little attempt to conceal.

"Hell!" he muttered, "why do you pause? It is not late. This is an
irritating trick of yours to leave off at the crucial juncture."

"Ha, ha!" laughed the Sepoy mirthlessly. "You have attended me, then?
Well, I can't admit you with the prince until to-morrow evening. I have
much to do ere I retire."

"This is my dismissal, I presume," responded Raikes sourly as he
replaced the gem, from which he seemed unable to remove his thieving
eyes.

"Here, take this damned thing; it has demoralized me," and placing the
shagreen case, with its priceless contents, in the hands of the
evilly-smiling Sepoy, he disappeared through the doorway.

Arrived at the door which opened upon his room, Raikes was assured, by
the familiar response of the locks to the pressure of his extraordinary
keys, that his precautions of a few hours before had been undisturbed.

Moreover, his sister, seated in her room in a chair so placed as to
command a view of the doorway opposite, and looking more effaced than
ever from the weary vigil which her heartless brother had imposed upon
her during his absence, advised him of the customary isolation and
depression which distinguished this barren household.

Within, Raikes began to make himself secure for the night.

He double-locked the door, placed the heavy bar in the iron shoulders,
over which he inserted a stout iron pin.

A brief investigation convinced him that it was out of the question to
open the shutters from without.

Satisfied upon these points, Raikes proceeded to the radiator, which for
a trembling space of apprehension he forbore to open.

However, since it was certainty he wanted, the valves shortly swung
toward him, the inner door responded to the sesame of his touch, and the
recess containing the tenets of his religion was exposed to view.

With trembling hands, which indicated the latent fear which unnerved
him, and eyes aching with anxiety, the wretched man examined bag after
bag of his precious coin with the solicitude one sees manifested by
parents whose children are rendered doubly dear by the taking away of
one of their number.

"Ah!" With a sigh, the relief of which almost concluded in physical
collapse, Raikes was able to assure himself that his rapid inventory
revealed no further loss.

Replacing his treasure with the indisposition he usually manifes