ely cut the throats of all three of us!"

"I said we'd never hear the last of it!" said Will, with a scowl at me.

"Shall we wait for her?" I repeated.

My own vote would have been in favor of going upstairs and leaving her
to her own devices. I could see that Fred was afire with curiosity,
but guessed that Will would agree with me. However, the point was
settled for us by the arrival of her maid, who smiled with unusual
condescension and produced from a basket an assortment of drinks, nuts,
cigarettes and sandwiches. She spread them on the table and went away
again.

We sat and smoked for an hour after that, imagining every moment that
Lady Saffren Waldon would be coming. Whenever we yawned in chorus and
rose to go upstairs, a footstep seemed to herald her arrival. To have
passed her on the stairs would have been too awkward to be amusing.

At last we really made up our minds to go to bed; and then she really
came, appearing at the bend in the stairs just as I set my foot on the
lower step, so we trooped back to our chairs by the window. She was
dressed in a lacy silk negligee, and took pains this time to appear
gracious.

"I waited until I felt sure we should not be disturbed," she said,
smiling. "Won't you come and sit down?"

We brought our chairs to the table, she sitting at one end and we
together at one side, Fred nearest her and I farthest away. She made a
sign toward the wine and sandwiches, and offered us cigarettes of a
sort I had never seen. Without feeling exactly like flies in a
spider's web, we were nervous as schoolboys.

"What do you want with us?" asked Will at last.

She laughed and took a cigarette.

"Don't let us talk too loud. You three men are after the Tippoo Tib
ivory. So is the Sultan of Zanzibar. So is the German government. So
am I."

She gave the statement time to do its own work, and smoked a while in
silence. The strength of her position, and our weakness, lay in there
being three of us. Any one of us might let drop an ill-considered word
that would commit the others. I think we all felt that, for we sat and
said nothing.

"You answer her, Fred," I said at last, and Will nodded agreement.

So Fred got up and sat on the other side of the table, where we could
see his face and he ours.

"You haven't answered Mr. Yerkes' question," he said. "What do you want
with us, Lady Saffren Waldon?"

"I want an understanding with you. I will be plain to begin with. We