.. And
then, without warning, a new world sprang up around me. Out of the blue
dusk white shapes rose like ghosts, peaks and needles and domes of ice,
their bases fading mistily into shadow, but the tops kindling till they
glowed like jewels. I had never seen such a sight, and the wonder of it
for a moment drove anxiety from my heart. More, it gave me an earnest
of victory. I was in clear air once more, and surely in this diamond
ether the foul things which loved the dark must be worsted ...

And then I saw, a mile ahead, the little square red-roofed building
which I knew to be the inn of Santa Chiara.

It was here that misfortune met me. I had grown careless now, and
looked rather at the house than the road. At one point the hillside had
slipped down--it must have been recent, for the road was well kept--and
I did not notice the landslide till I was on it. I slewed to the right,
took too wide a curve, and before I knew the car was over the far edge.
I slapped on the brakes, but to avoid turning turtle I had to leave the
road altogether. I slithered down a steep bank into a meadow, where for
my sins I ran into a fallen tree trunk with a jar that shook me out of
my seat and nearly broke my arm. Before I examined the car I knew what
had happened. The front axle was bent, and the off front wheel badly
buckled.

I had not time to curse my stupidity. I clambered back to the road and
set off running down it at my best speed. I was mortally stiff, for
Ivery's rack was not good for the joints, but I realized it only as a
drag on my pace, not as an affliction in itself. My whole mind was set
on the house before me and what might be happening there.

There was a man at the door of the inn, who, when he caught sight of my
figure, began to move to meet me. I saw that it was Launcelot Wake, and
the sight gave me hope.

But his face frightened me. It was drawn and haggard like one who never
sleeps, and his eyes were hot coals.

'Hannay,' he cried, 'for God's sake what does it mean?'

'Where is Mary?' I gasped, and I remember I clutched at a lapel of his
coat.

He pulled me to the low stone wall by the roadside.

'I don't know,' he said hoarsely. 'We got your orders to come here this
morning. We were at Chiavagno, where Blenkiron told us to wait. But
last night Mary disappeared ... I found she had hired a carriage and
come on ahead. I followed at once, and reached here an hour ago to find
her gone ... The woman who keeps th