dding isn't over and done with by this time. An' I gev him 'my lord'
for it, too! Played the high-tone society act for all it was worth,
eh, what?"

The next scene in the drama began for the Hungarian when he sat upon
the sidewalk in 56th Street, and tried to pacify certain outraged
blood-vessels in the nasal region. Of course, the curtain had been up
some time, but, so far as he was concerned, the incidents which
followed his precipitate descent from the automobile were merely
catastrophic. He had seen a vivid, violet-colored star close to his
eyes, had felt a crushing blow, had heard his own voice vaguely; and
then he awoke to a singular sense of personal dis-ease, and to the fact
that the noble Earl had nearly lost his temper.

"It was entirely your fault, Vassilan," his lordship was saying. "You
gain nothing but lose everything by your bullying tactics. Dash it
all, the fellow downed you like a prize-fighter. Who was he? Not Jean
de Courtois, I'll swear, so where has de Courtois gone? Can't you
stand up? It's damn silly to sit there, nursing your nose. Our
motor-car is out of action. We had better interview this clergyman,
and learn exactly what has happened."

Vassilan rose. He was neither a coward nor a weakling, but he felt
sore in mind as in body.

"What's wrog with the car?" he demanded. "Ad cad you led me ad
hadkerchief?"

"That rascal who was with Hermione nearly pulled the gear levers out by
the roots," said the Earl testily. "He pushed me back into the
limousine--with some degree of force, too, confound him! Who can he
be?"

"Suppose we idquire," growled Vassilan, and, mopping his nose with the
Earl's handkerchief, he tugged viciously at the old-fashioned bell-pull
which served the needs of visitors to the Rev. Thomas J. Hughes.

The maid-servant who took the names of the two men was surprised, and
showed it, but her democratic respect for titles yielded to suspicion
when she observed Count Vassilan's villainous guise.

"Wil-li-am!" she cried, and, when the ex-sailor appeared from the
depths, she asked him to "look after the gentlemen" while she summoned
Mr. Hughes.

"Cad you take me somewhere, ad supply me with a towel ad pledty of cold
water?" said the Hungarian, addressing the wizened one.

Now, Jenkins was verger and pew-opener in the church as well as trusted
assistant to the aged minister, but the ways and language of the
fo'c's'l came back to him with irresistible force w