the flames of the burning
cloth with his hands. He burnt himself badly in the act, but of this he
was insensible. Then he bent closer and looked desperately, almost
hopelessly, into her face.

"Speak to me, darling!" he moaned in such a low, broken-hearted voice
that even Sir Hubert, himself almost mad with grief, realized how the
other suffered.

Edith heard him. She opened her eyes, and smiled bravely.

"I don't think it is serious," she murmured. "I was hit high
up--somewhere in the shoulder. Don't fret, there's a dear."

Then she fainted.

Not knowing why Fairholme did not join him, Talbot raced towards the
carriage he had seen approaching. It was a smart vehicle, with a sleek,
well-groomed horse, and he guessed that it must be a private conveyance.
Gazing anxiously around, he could not see another carriage anywhere in
the vicinity. There was nothing for it but the method of the brutal
Saxon. Explanations would need precious time and might be wasted. So
Talbot jumped into the victoria, hauled the coachman off the box, threw
him into the roadway, seized the reins, and climbed into the vacant
seat.

Brett, hurrying with the pilot from the Hotel de France, saw a veiled
and curious-looking female vehemently urging the driver of a carriage to
proceed up the main street of Palermo as fast as his horse could travel.

Even in the turmoil of thought caused by the pilot's intelligence he
noted something peculiar in the lady's manner. Half a minute later he
encountered Talbot, driving an empty vehicle and furiously compelling
with reins and whip a lazy animal to exert himself.

Brett shouted to him. He might as well have addressed a whirlwind.

"I saw them all together on the yacht when I came away, signor,"
exclaimed the pilot. "That is, all except the old signor, who was
walking with some Turks, a Frenchman, and another who looked like an
Englishman."

"The old signor was walking with the Turks?" cried Brett.

"Without doubt. He conversed with them. I thought it strange that he
took no notice of those on board the yacht, but just then the
steamer----"

"Now," said Brett to himself, "Winter has arrested somebody. Talbot is
on the right track!"

Yielding to impulse he stopped suddenly and called a cab.

"Here!" he said to the pilot, "ask the driver if he saw two carriages
pass up the Corso just now at a very fast pace? Very well! Tell him to
follow them if possible. Jump in with me. I may need your services a