and the former, white and wide-eyed came almost to a dead

The two women quitted the room together, leaving Strangwise and Barbara alone with the thing on the floor. Strangwise picked up a military great-coat which was hanging over the back of a chair and put it on, buttoning it all the way up the front and turning up the collar about the neck. Then he crammed a cap on his head and stood listening intently.

A high, gurgling scream, abruptly checked, came through the open door at the farther end of the room.

Barbara sprang up from the chair into which she had sunk.

"What was that" she asked, whispering.

Strangwise did not reply. He was still listening, a tall, well set-up figure in the long khaki great-coat.

"But those two women are alone in the cellar," exclaimed Barbara, "they are being murdered! Ah! what was that?"

A gentle thud resounded from below.

A man came in through the door leading from the bar: