ugh Johnstone writhed
in rage, as he saw the cool way in which Berthe Louison fortified her
safety lines.

Before they were in the shelter of the banker's superb mansion, Hugh
Johnstone was double locked within the walls of Douglas Fraser's
apartment.

"I have two hours to work in" he gasped, after a nervous examination
of the contents of the cases which had been placed at his feet in his
carriage. "And, then, for the Viceroy! But first to the steamer and the
Insurance Office!'"

Not a human being in Calcutta ever knew the contents of the small steel
strongbox which occupied the place of honor in the treasure room of the
Empress of India on her speeding down the Hooghly. But a Director of
the Anglo-Indian Assurance Company opened his eyes widely when Hugh
Johnstone, his fellow director, cheerfully paid the marine insurance
fees on a policy of fifty thousand pounds sterling. "I am sending some
of my securities home, Mainwaring," the great financier said. "I intend
to remove my property, bit by bit, to London. I do not dare to trust
them on one ship." The director sighed in a hopeless envy of his
millionaire friend.

Hugh Johnstone's Calcutta agent was also solemnly stirred up when his
principal gave him some private directions as to the custody of his
private papers and a substantial Gladstone bag, consigned to the
recesses of the steel vaults. "I go back with these papers to Delhi
to-morrow night. Give me the keys of my private compartment till then.
In a few months I may be called to London. Douglas Fraser will have my
power of attorney."

With a sunny gleam in his face, Hugh Johnstone then alertly sprang
into his carriage, when he had finished his careful toilet, to meet the
Viceroy of India. The two brass-bound mahogany cases were left standing
carelessly open upon his table in Douglas Fraser's rooms, neatly packed
with an assortment of toilet articles and all the multitudinous personal
medical stores of a refined Anglo-Indian "in the sere and yellow."

"Five pounds worth!" laughed Hugh Johnstone, as he closed the door.
"Now, in one hour, my Lady Disdain, I can say 'Checkmate.' Ram Lal shall
attend to you later--behind all your bolts and bars. He will find a way
to reach you."

It was a matter of profound speculation to the gilded youth of the
Government House what strangely sudden friendship had blossomed to bring
the august representative of the great Victoria, Kaisar-I-Hind, and
Queen of England, as far