y puddin', sir, and started on my seckint trotter, when I sees a
pair o' legs nip parst the area railin's to the front door, and then nip
off again like greased lightnin', and when I ups and does a flyin' leap
up the kitchen stairs, there was this here envellup in the letter-box,
and them there blessed legs nowheres in sight. I say, sir," agitatedly,
"look wot's wrote on the envellup, will yer? And us always keepin' of it
so dark."

Cleek plucked the letter from his extended hand, glanced at it, and
puckered up his lips; then, with a gesture, he sent Dollops back below
stairs, and, returning to the room, closed the door behind him.

"The enemy evidently knows all Lady Chepstow's movements, Mr. Narkom,"
he said. "I expect she and Miss Lorne have been under surveillance all
day and have been followed here. Look at that!" He flung the letter down
on a table as he spoke, and Narkom, glancing at it, saw printed in rude,
illiterate letters upon the envelope the one word "Cleek." The identity
of "Captain Burbage" was known to someone, and the secret of the house
in Clarges Street was a secret no longer!

"Purposely disguised, you see. No one, not even a little child, would
make such a botch of copying the alphabet as that," Cleek said, as he
took the letter up and opened it. The sheet it contained was lettered in
the same uncouth manner, and bore these words:

"Cleek, take a fool's advice and don't accept the Chepstow case. Be
warned. If you interfere, somebody you care about will pay the price.
You'll find it more satisfactory to buy a wedding bouquet than a funeral
wreath!"

"Oh!" shuddered the two ladies in one breath. "How horrible! How
cowardly!" And then, feeling that her last hope had gone, Lady Chepstow
broke into a fit of violent weeping and laid her head on Ailsa's
shoulder.

"Oh, my baby! My darling baby boy!" she sobbed. "And now they are
threatening somebody that you, too, love. Of course, Mr. Cleek, I can't
expect you to risk the sacrifice of your own dear ones for the sake of
me and mine, and so--and so--Oh, take me away, Miss Lorne! Let me go
back to my baby and have him while I may."

"Good-night, Mr. Cleek!" said Ailsa, stretching out a shaking hand to
him. "Thank you so much for--for what you would have done but for this.
And you were our last hope, too!"

"Why give it up then, Miss Lorne?" he said, holding her hand and
looking into her eyes. "Why not go on letting me be your last hope--your
only h