e and unusually brilliant
eyes; the latter was tall, graceful, and clad in black.

Having dismissed her cab, the new-comer crossed St. George's Terrace
with an appearance of haste, and entering Hellier Crescent, immediately
mounted the steps of No. 8.

The last member of this strange procession had disappeared into the
house as she reached the door; but, acting with apparent familiarity,
she lifted the knocker and let it fall once.

For a moment there was no response; then, as in the case of the former
visitors, the slide was drawn back and a beam of light came through the
grating, to be immediately obscured by the shadowy suggestion of a face
with two inquiring eyes.

"The Word?" demanded a solemn voice.

The new-comer lifted her head.

"He shall be Power made absolute!" she responded in a low and slightly
tremulous voice; and a moment later the door opened, and she stepped
into the hall.

The scene inside the house was curious in the extreme. If there were
quiet and darkness outside, a brilliant light and a tense, contagious
excitement reigned within. The large hall, lighted by tall lamps, was
covered with a thick black carpet into which the feet sank noiselessly,
and the walls and ceiling were draped in the same sombre tint; but at
intervals of a few feet, columns of white marble, chiselled into curious
shapes, gleamed upon the observer from shadowy niches.

On ordinary occasions, there was a solemnity, a coldness, in this sombre
vestibule; but to-night a strange electric activity seemed to have been
breathed upon the atmosphere. Women with flushed faces and men with
feverishly bright eyes hurried to and fro in an irrepressible, aimless
agitation. A blending of dread and hysterical anticipation was stamped
upon every face. People stopped one another with nervous, unstrung
gesture and odd, disjointed sentences.

As the last comer entered, she paused for a moment, uncertain and
hesitating; but almost as she did so, a remarkable-looking and massively
built man who was standing in the hall, disengaged himself from a group
of people, and, coming directly towards her, took her hand.

"Mrs. Witcherley! At last!" he exclaimed, in a full, emotional voice. "I
looked for you among the gathering and for a moment I almost feared--"

"That I would fail?" Her voice was still tinged with agitation; the
pupils of her large eyes were distended.

"No, I did not mean that. But at such a moment we burn lest even one of
the