's with me," he said, "and choose
whatever you like best. Those fingers of yours are made for
rings--rings of all sorts!" and he gave them a gentle pressure.

She let him escort her to Bond Street, and followed him gaily into
Raymond's; but when it came to accepting a ring from him, she
laughingly refused, and chose, instead, the most expensive diamond
bracelets and pendants in the shop. Some of these she wore--the
rest--unknown to him of course--she sold; sending the proceeds,
anonymously, to Shiel Davenport--who was starving.

When Kelson went on the stage, that evening, his thoughts were so far
away--planning for his honeymoon--that he entered the cage of a newly
imported lion without having made the necessary signs, and would most
certainly have been mangled out of recognition, had not one of the
supers, perceiving how matters lay, rushed to his assistance, and kept
the lion at bay with a pole, till further help could be procured. It
had been a narrow squeak, and to Kelson the bare idea of continuing
his performance was appalling. His nerves were, as he himself put it,
anyhow, and he preferred retiring for the rest of the evening.

But Hamar would not hear of it.

"This is the second bungle we have had," he said, "and the reputation
of the firm is seriously at stake. You must go on again and retrieve
it."

And Kelson, trembling all over, was obliged to reappear.

After it was all over, and he had bowed himself out into the wings,
Hamar led him aside.

"Don't look so damned pleased with yourself," he said, "I don't half
like the look of things. This is the third time the Unknown has tried
to trap us--the fourth time it may be successful! Take care!"

CHAPTER XX

THE STAGE OF HAUNTINGS

Much to the relief of the trio, the end of stage three was at length
reached--and, thanks to Hamar, reached without further mishap. To keep
Curtis and Kelson up to the mark, Hamar had worked indefatigably. He
had never relaxed his efforts in the strict watch he kept over them,
and he had unceasingly impressed upon them, the vital importance of
obeying, to the very letter, the instructions they had received from
the Unknown.

The part he had thus taken upon himself, the difficulties he had to
encounter in this unceasing vigilance, had produced a new Hamar--a
Hamar that was a personality; a personality so utterly unlike the
old Hamar--the meek and servile clerk--as to make one wonder if
there could possibly be two