e to come back," I went on, "and rejoin you. But if I shouldn't
for any reason,"--with careful vagueness,--"you must stay here,
barricaded, till they are gone. Then Miss Falconer can drive her car
to the nearest town and bring back help for you. You see, it will be
entirely simple, either way."

The girl, very white now, took a swift step toward me.

"Simple?" she cried. "They will kill you! They hate you, Mr. Bayne, and
they are four to one. You mustn't go."

But the duke's hand was on her arm.

"My dear," he said, "he has reason. This friend of yours, I perceive,
is a gallant gentleman. Believe me, if I had strength to stand, he would
not go alone."

He held out the papers to me, and I took them. Then we clasped hands,
the Firefly and I.

"_Bonne chance, Monsieur_," he bade me with the pressure.

"Good luck and good-bye," I answered. "Miss Falconer, will you come to
the door?"

She took up the candle and came forward to light me, and we went in
silence through the room of the squires and through the ante-chamber and
into the room of the guards. She walked close beside me; her eyes shone
wet; her lips trembled. There were things I would have given the world
to say, but I suppressed them. To the very end, I had resolved, I would
play fair. We were at the outer door.

"Good-by, Miss Falconer," I said, halting. "You mustn't worry;
everything is going to turn out splendidly, I am sure. Only, now that we
have the papers, it ends our little adventure, doesn't it? So before
I go I want to thank you for our day together. It has been wonderful.
There never was another like it. I shall always be thankful for it, no
matter what I have to pay."

I stopped abruptly, realizing that this was not cricket. To make up,
I put out my hand quite coolly; but she grasped it in both of hers and
held it in a soft, warm clasp.

"I shall never forget," she whispered. "Come back to us, Mr. Bayne!"

For a moment I looked at her in the light of the candle, at her lovely
face, at the ruddy hair framing it, at the tears heavy on her lashes.
Then I drew the bolt and went out and heard her fasten the door.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE OBUS

I stood in the gallery for an instant, indulging in a reconnoissance.
The hall was now illuminated by an electric torch and three guttering
candles; at the foot of the staircase lay the table which had done such
yeoman's service, split in two. As for the besiegers, they were
gathered near the chimney-p