my captors, I was taken to the room in which
Fairholme found me, and I never left the place until nearly nine o'clock
last night.

"It was a most ghastly experience. I would sooner die than go through it
again.

"If ever I get within measurable distance of Monsieur Henri Dubois I
promise you that I will repay him with interest some of the agony he
inflicted on me. I never thought I should hate a man as I hate that
Frenchman. I do not want to kill him. I want to torture him!"

This was the first sign that Talbot had given of the anger that filled
his soul. For a moment no one spoke. Edith stifled a sob, and Sir Hubert
Fitzjames broke the tension by swearing as vehemently as ever did the
army in Flanders.

"You have suffered," said Brett quietly, "but not in vain. It is only by
the manner in which these blackguards treated you that we have obtained
so much knowledge. Your capture was a necessary part of their scheme. I
wonder now that after you had served their purpose they did not kill
you. It was not out of pity, believe me. The fact that you were spared
confirms me in the opinion that the Albert Gate murders were a gigantic
blunder, never contemplated by the expert criminal who planned the
theft. But continue. What happened afterwards?"

Talbot almost summoned up a smile as he said--"Really, the next thing
was so grotesque that were not the whole business so serious a one you
would be compelled to laugh at it.

"Looking back now to those first ghastly hours when I laid on the bed
tied hand and foot, I find it difficult to recall any definite
impressions. It would be absurd to say that I suffered, either mentally
or physically. I was sunk in a sort of stupor of rage, and my bonds did
not hurt me so long as I kept quiet. Curiously enough, my thoughts were
somewhat altruistic. Instead of speculating as to my own fate I rather
wondered what would be the outcome of the whole mysterious business. I
could not bring myself to believe that, cleverly as the rogues had
outwitted me, they would be able to similarly dupe a strong body of
Metropolitan police, not to mention Mehemet Ali and his assistants.

"At last I fell asleep, dozing fitfully at first, but finally giving way
to the deep slumber of exhaustion.

"I was awakened by someone shaking me, though not roughly. It took me
some time to recover my scattered senses, and at first I was almost
unable to move, owing to the constrained position of my limbs. As well
as I