dache as was possible before the
Bishop's arrival. Clovis, having asked the way to the nearest
telegraph office, disappeared presently down the carriage drive. Mr.
Huddle met him in the hall some two hours later, and asked when the
Bishop would arrive.

"He is in the library with Alberti," was the reply.

"But why wasn't I told? I never knew he had come!" exclaimed Huddle.

"No one knows he is here," said Clovis; "the quieter we can keep
matters the better. And on no account disturb him in the library.
Those are his orders."

"But what is all this mystery about? And who is Alberti? And isn't
the Bishop going to have tea?"

"The Bishop is out for blood, not tea."

"Blood!" gasped Huddle, who did not find that the thunderbolt improved
on acquaintance.

"To-night is going to be a great night in the history of Christendom,"
said Clovis. "We are going to massacre every Jew in the neighbourhood."

"To massacre the Jews!" said Huddle indignantly. "Do you mean to tell
me there's a general rising against them?"

"No, it's the Bishop's own idea. He's in there arranging all the
details now."

"But--the Bishop is such a tolerant, humane man."

"That is precisely what will heighten the effect of his action. The
sensation will be enormous."

That at least Huddle could believe.

"He will be hanged!" he exclaimed with conviction.

"A motor is waiting to carry him to the coast, where a steam yacht is
in readiness."

"But there aren't thirty Jews in the whole neighbourhood," protested
Huddle, whose brain, under the repeated shocks of the day, was
operating with the uncertainty of a telegraph wire during earthquake
disturbances.

"We have twenty-six on our list," said Clovis, referring to a bundle of
notes. "We shall be able to deal with them all the more thoroughly."

"Do you mean to tell me that you are meditating violence against a man
like Sir Leon Birberry," stammered Huddle; "he's one of the most
respected men in the country."

"He's down on our list," said Clovis carelessly; "after all, we've got
men we can trust to do our job, so we shan't have to rely on local
assistance. And we've got some Boy-scouts helping us as auxiliaries."

"Boy-scouts!"

"Yes; when they understood there was real killing to be done they were
even keener than the men."

"This thing will be a blot on the Twentieth Century!"

"And your house will be the blotting-pad. Have you realized that half
the papers of Europe and