Ralph Ravenspur, with Tchigorsky and Geoffrey, sat smoking in the billiard room until Vera came in to say good-night and drive them off to bed. As they were about to separate at the head of the stairs Ralph gave them a sign to follow him.

"Come to my room for half an hour," he said.

The others complied. Tchigorsky slipped away for a while, and on his return he laid the end of a long silk thread on the white table cover.

"Part of a little scheme," he said. "This is one end of the silk thread. Where the other end is matters nothing for the present. Ralph, everybody has retired?"

"Everybody," Ralph replied as he filled his pipe.

"I fancy you said that no servants sleep in the house."

"They have not done so for a long time," Geoffrey explained. "Not that we entertain the least suspicion of any of them. We merely made the change for safety's sake."

Tchigorsky nodded his approval. He arranged the silk thread neatly on the table, coiling the end round a daisy pattern worked into the damask cloth.

"For Mrs. May's benefit?" Geoffrey asked.

"Precisely," Tchigorsky said gravely. "I take a great interest in her."

Geoffrey smoked a whole cigarette before he spoke again.

"By the way," he exclaimed, "who and what is Mrs. May?"

"The devil fairly disguised," Ralph croaked. "A beautiful Mephistopheles, a fascinating Beelzebub, a dark-eyed fiend, a—a——"

He pulled up choking with all-consuming rage. His arm was sawing the air as if feeling for the white throat of his lovely foe.

"Steady, there," Tchigorsky muttered. "Steady, Ralph, my friend. Shall we enlighten Master Geoffrey a little as to the kind of woman she is?"

Ralph nodded over his pipe.

"If you like," he said. "Only the tale shall be yours. When I come to think of it, I go out of my mind, as I did that night in the Black Valley. Tell him, Tchigorsky; tell him by all means—but not all."

"Ay, ay, I shall know where to leave off. I'll sit here where I can watch the table. I am interested in that silk thread. So long as it remains simply coiled up there I can go on talking. When it moves——"

"You are wasting time," Geoffrey suggested.

"True. But to make amends I am going to interest you from the very outset. Doubtless you are curious to know the meaning of those scars on my face and on the face of your uncle. Lately he has managed artistically to disguise his for reasons that will appear later. There was nothing to gain by hiding mine and pretty ugly they are.

"These scars were branded on us both at the same time by the priests of the great temple in the hills beyond Lassa. Three of us had penetrated there, but the other one knew nothing of the mysteries of Buddha, for the simple reason that he was the servant of your uncle—one Elphick by name. Elphick is doing good work for us elsewhere, but you shall see him in time.

"Now, these two men, who had disguised themselves as Buddhist priests and had penetrated all the mysteries of that most mysterious creed, had made a boast two years before at Lahore of what they meant to do. And the words of their vaporings were carried to the ears of a woman who was a Brahmin, though it appeared as if she had abandoned her religion and had married an Englishman.

"This Englishman had been to Lassa himself and, when a girl, his wife had fallen in love with him and he married her. There was a good deal of scandal about it at the time, but there are so many scandals in India that this one was quickly buried under a layer of other slanders. Some said that that officer had managed to pick up some of the holiest mysteries of Buddha, and that the lovely native had married him to close his lips. Certainly, he would never speak of Lassa and when the place was mentioned he always showed signs of agitation.

"Well, we went. We were not afraid. Both of us knew the East, we spoke many languages, we could assume any disguise. And in a short time, as honored pilgrims from a far land, we were free of the holy temple in the hills beyond Lassa. Soon we were picking up all the mysteries."

"Are there any mysteries?" Geoffrey asked.

Ralph gave a quick barking laugh like the snap of a pistol shot. All this time his grave, wooden smile never relaxed.

"Ay," Tchigorsky went on, "mysteries! The things we saw and the things we learned would have driven many a strong man mad. Occult sciences! What do we know of them? I tell you the greatest man who walks the earth, a whole regiment of the finest scientists in Europe, would be a set of chattering monkeys alongside a Buddhist priest. We have seen the dead rise from their graves and heard them speak. We came near to learn the secret of eternal life. And yet everlasting life and the unveiling of the future would not tempt me there again."

Tchigorsky's voice had fallen to a harsh whisper. As Geoffrey glanced at Ralph he saw that the latter's face was bathed in a profound perspiration.

"We were thus situated for some months," Tchigorsky resumed. "Gradually every mystery connected with life and death was opening up before us, and the secret of universal knowledge was within our grasp. Then one day there was a commotion in the city, and we found that there was to be a great feast in honor of a princess of the royal blood who had come back to Lassa after a long pilgrimage. We were bidden to that feast and had places of honor near to the seat of the princess.

"She came in presently, gorgeously attired in flowing robes and strings of diamonds and emeralds in her hair. She was a magnificent creature. I have seen many a native queen on her throne, but none to compare with that woman who sat flashing her lovely eyes round the table.

"As I looked at her again and again I had an odd feeling that I had seen her before. I turned to speak to Ralph here and beheld with distended eyes and dropped jaw that he was regarding the princess.

"'What is it?' I asked. 'Do you know her, too?'

"Ralph whispered a few words in my ear—a few pungent words that turned me cold. And what he saw was this. In the princess we had the woman from Lahore—the woman who had forsaken her tribe to marry an English officer. We had heard before that she was in the habit of going away for long periods, and we knew that her husband must have possessed himself of Buddhist secrets, perhaps sacred Buddhist script, or that woman would never have been allowed to come and go like this.

"Had she married an Englishman in the ordinary way and subsequently returned to Lassa, she would have been torn to pieces. She had been granted absolution on purpose to wrest those secrets from the Englishman who had stolen them. And we two had boasted in the hearing of this woman that we were going to learn those secrets for ourselves.

"Would she recognize us? That was the question. Remember that we were most carefully disguised, we spoke the language without flaw, we had the same tale to tell—a tale that we had rehearsed over and over again. There was no reason why we should not pass muster.

"Hope began to revive. Then I looked up and caught that woman's eye and she smiled. I dream of that smile sometimes at night, and wake up cold and wet and shivering from head to foot. Not that I have more fear than most men, but then I had seen men put to death in Tibet. The torture of the wheel would be a pleasant recreation alongside of death like that.

"We were recognized. No need to tell us that. Doubtless that woman had followed us step by step, giving us all the latitude we required, and now she had come to teach us the pains and penalties attaching to our office. She favored us with no further glance until the feast had concluded and what passes for music had begun, when she honored both of us with a summons to her side.

"Of course, we went. In the circumstances there was nothing else to do. She made room for us; she smiled dazzlingly upon us. And then slowly and deliberately, as a cat with a mouse, she began to play with us.

"'I speak to you thus,' she said, 'because there are others who seek for the secrets of the faith. There were two Christian dogs who came up from Lahore. One was called Tchigorsky, the other was called Mayton' (Mayton was your uncle Ralph's pseudonym, Geoffrey), 'and they boasted what they were going to do. They knew the language, they said. And, behold, the one called Tchigorsky was very like you, holy man.'

"It was coming. I bowed gravely as if the comparison was not pleasing to me. A wild yell of hysterical laughter came to my lips, but I managed to suppress that. There were no knives on the table, and I had not dared to use my revolver. Had there been a knife on the table I should have stabbed that woman to the heart and taken the consequences.

"But your revolver, Tchigorsky," Geoffrey suggested.

"My dear boy, holy fathers and shining lights of the Buddhist faith do not carry Regulation Army revolvers," Tchigorsky said grimly. "All I could do was to wait."

"'Did you know those English at Lahore?' the princess asked.

"I disclaimed the knowledge, saying that at that time I was in Cawnpore. Then being closely questioned, I proceeded to give a detailed history of the movements of myself and my companion for the last year or so. I was lying glibly and easily, but I had no comfort from the knowledge. It was easy to see that not one word was believed, and that I was walking into the trap.

"'At Dargi you were,' said the princess. 'What are the five points of the temple there?'

"For the life of me I could not tell her. As a matter of fact, I had never been near Dargi in my life. And the question was one that any Buddhist who had been there would have answered offhand.

"'I have forgotten,' I answered as calmly as possible. 'I have a bad memory. I forget all kinds of things.'

"Those dark eyes seemed to look me all through.

"'You will forget your own name next,' the princess said.

"'I'll remember that,' I replied. 'I am Rane el Den, at your service.'

"Then came the reply in excellent English. 'Your name is Sergius Tchigorsky, and your companion is Ralph James Mayton. I have found you out. I have only to raise my hand and your fate is sealed.'

"It was all over. I said nothing. I asked no pity. Pity! You might as well strive to soften the heart of the wounded tiger that has you down with a handful of nuts. Then I——"

Tchigorsky paused. His eyes were on the table. He pointed to the silken thread that was slowly moving in the direction of the door.

"Hush!" he said softly. "Blow out the light."