miracle," he said. "You're a born actor, my
son, and you came and went and got away with it just as well as
mortal man could wish, and far better than I hoped. Well, Doria was
fine. We stung him all right, and when he saw and thought he
recognized the real Robert Redmayne, it got him in the solar
plexus--I'm doggone sure of that. For just a moment he slipped, but
how could he help it?

"You see the beauty of his dilemma. If he'd been straight, he'd have
gone for you; but he wasn't straight. He knew well enough that _his_
Robert Redmayne--the forgery--wasn't on the war-path to-night; and
when I said I saw nothing, he pulled himself together and swore he
hadn't either. And the next second he realized what he had done! But
too late. I had my hand on my shooting iron in my pocket after that,
I can tell you! He was spoiling to hit back--he is now--he's not
wasting to-night. But all that matters for the moment is that we've
put a crimp on him and he knows it."

"He may be off before you return to the villa."

"Not he. He's going to see this thing through and finish his job, if
we don't prevent it. And he won't waste any more time either. He's
been playing a game and amusing himself--with us and Albert
yonder--as a cat with a mouse. But he won't play any more. From
to-night he's going for all three of us bald-headed. He's mad with
himself that he was foolish enough to delay. He's a wonder for his
age, Mark; but a man, after all--not a superman."

"What happened exactly, and how does he stand to what he saw?"

"Can't swear, but I figure it like this. I watched very close with
what I call my third eye--a sort of receiver in my brain that soaks
up what a man's thinking and draws it out of him. For the first
moment he was nonplussed, lost his nerve and may even have believed
he saw a spirit. He cried out, 'It's Robert Redmayne !' and
instantly asked me if I'd seen him too. I stared and said I'd seen
nothing at all, and then his manner changed and he laughed it off
and said it was only a shadow cast by the shrine. But, on second
thoughts, he knew mighty well it was no shadow, and presently he
fell a bit silent, thinking hard, while I just chatted about
nothing, as I'd done from the start of our walk. I'd pretended to
take him into my confidence, you see, and I heard from him just
exactly what I thought he was going to tell me--that you were in
love with his wife; that he had no more use for her; that she knew
all about the r