my womenfolk, but I need at least one other man whom I can trust. Will you come?"
"I'll be with you within twenty minutes."
He heard the clang of the receiver being replaced on its rest at the other end of the wire. Somehow, the sound conveyed a new determination on Forbes's part. He had his back to the wall. No matter what view the law took of his action subsequently, he would protect his dear ones at all hazards.
After that, Theydon hesitated no longer.
"Bates," he cried, "throw into a bag such clothes as I shall need for a few days' stay in Mr. Forbes's house. When I am gone, pack your own boxes and take a week's holiday. Go anywhere you like, out of London, but go at once. Send me your address, care of Mr. Forbes, and I'll let you know when I want you again."
"If it's a matter of holdin' out against them—"
Bates intended making a declaration of war, but his employer broke in emphatically.
"I want you to obey my orders fully and unquestionably," he said. Bates promptly became the well-trained valet once more.
"Yes, sir," he said. "Your portmanteau will be ready in ten minutes. Half an hour later me an' Mrs. Bates will leave for my cousin's place in Hampshire."
Theydon returned to the sitting room. His sister's face was white with fear, but he threw restraint to the winds.
"Mollie," he said, placing his hands on her shoulders, "you are very dear to me, but there is one woman in the world who, if fate proves kind, may yet be dearer. She is in danger. If some one said that of you to your husband, what would he do?"
She kissed him with tremulous lips. "He would act just as you are going to act," she said. "But, dear, can't you trust me? I cannot help, perhaps, but I can pray for you."
"Well, then, Sis, I won't fence with you any longer. There's a sort of feud between Mr. Forbes and a faction in China. He helped the reformers financially, and some supporters of the dethroned dynasty are trying to compel him by force to give them a list of the prominent men who control the revolution. If he yields, it means that nearly a hundred leading men in China—men whose only thought is the welfare and progress of their country—will be ruthlessly murdered. If he continues to refuse, his own life and the lives of his wife and daughter are at stake. These fiends killed Mrs. Lester within a few feet of this very room. They killed her husband six months ago. They tried to kidnap Evelyn Forbes yesterday, and succeeded, for a while, in carrying off her mother, their plan being to torture one or both, even unto death. Heaven help me, I love Evelyn Forbes, and I would count my life well spent if I died in defending her. Should anything happen to me and she is spared, tell her that, will you—and my spirit will thank you."
"We must not think of death, but of life," was the brave answer. "Can I do anything? Could George assist if he were here?"
"No, Mollie. Perhaps I am exaggerating matters, though the history of this week would make strange reading if published broadcast. Indeed I shall now urge on Mr. Forbes the advisability of sending the facts to the press. London would be stirred to its depths, and every one of its citizens would be quick to observe and report the presence of Chinamen or Japanese in the West End. Some innocent Orientals would suffer, but the police might at least be enabled to capture the pestiferous gang which has committed this latest outrage. Just think of some cold-blooded scoundrel shooting at a sweet-mannered and gentle lady like Mrs. Forbes!"
"Surely the authorities can protect her."
"That is the wild absurdity of the position. Of course, you didn't hear what Mr. Forbes said. The armed detectives on duty in his house actually saw the Chinaman who fired the shot which wounded her, leaning out through the window of a closed car. But they cannot blaze away at any passer-by merely because he is, or resembles, an Asiatic. What they dare not do, however, he and I will endeavor cheerfully. Bates!"
"Yes, sir," came the cry from a bedroom.
"If you are packing two bags, put that pistol and a box of cartridges in the smaller one."
"Yes, sir."
Mrs. Paxton at this crisis proved herself a woman of spirit.
"I think you're right, Frank," she said quietly. "I refuse to believe that any British court of justice would blame any man for defending the lives of his wife and daughter, nor you for helping him. If the peacefully disposed Chinese residents in London wish to avoid risk let them keep away from No. 11. Fortescue Square. May I come with you?"
"You, Mollie?"
He looked at her with troubled eyes. For the moment such was the fire in his brain he did not understand.
She laughed gallantly.
"I don't mean as one of the garrison," she said. "May I not make the acquaintance of these people? Sometimes, the mere knowledge that others are aware of one's troubles and sympathize with one is comforting. Miss Beale is not expecting me till tea time. I told her I might lunch with you. Indeed, I promised to call at her hotel for her letters, and that is halfway on your road."
"You're a brick, Mollie," said her brother. "I do believe Evelyn Forbes will be glad to see you. The most amazing thing about this affair is that none of the many friends Mr. and Mrs. Forbes and their daughter must possess in London has the slightest inkling of the truth. I suppose the servants are instructed to tell ordinary callers that the various members of the family are out, or some of them indisposed, or something of the sort.... But come along! I hear Bates banging my belongings into the passage. I'm in a fever to be there and taking part in the row."
Soon they were seated in a taxi and speeding to Smith's Hotel, Jermyn Street.
"Have you invited Miss Beale to reside with you while she is in London, Sis?" said Theydon, allowing his thoughts to dwell for a moment on the less tragic side of events.
"Yes. What else could I do? Poor thing, she was terrified at the notion of sleeping under the same roof as a Chinaman."
"I don't blame her. But there's a certain element of risk for you, Mollie—"
"Oh, bother! Don't tell me that a few Chinamen can threaten all London."
Yet even the valiant-hearted Mrs. Paxton yielded to the haunting terror of the bandits when the taxi drew in behind a gray car already standing at the curb outside Smith's Hotel, and her brother grasped her wrist in sudden warning.
"Sit still," he said. "Now we may get on the track of some of the gang. That is the car which followed me on Monday night."
His sister, of course, did not understand. She had heard nothing of the pursuit and its curious sequel.
"Do you mean it is one of the cars which these men use?" she whispered breathlessly.
"Yes. I'll explain later. But what impudence! The scoundrels have not even changed the number plate."
Unquestionably, the number of the gray landaulet now within a few feet of them was XY 1314. Theydon stooped, opened a dressing case lying at his feet, and took out the automatic pistol placed there by Bates. He put it in the right-hand pocket of his coat.
"Now, I'll reconnoiter," he said, and opened the door. The taxi driver was already gazing curiously in at his fares, wondering why one or both did not alight.
"Be ready to start the instant I want you," said Theydon to the man, and he strolled past the gray car, with every sense alert, every muscle braced. If Wong Li Fu were seated inside he would cover him with the pistol and hold him there until the police came, or shoot him dead if he offered any resistance.
Fortunately, therefore, all things considered, the interior of the car was absolutely empty, save for a copy of the Times on the back seat. Even the presence of the newspaper was significant. In that issue should have appeared Forbes's reply to "Y. M." which Furneaux had suppressed as unnecessary.
There was a chauffeur at the wheel—no Chinaman, but a tightly-buttoned and black-legginged young Englishman—in fact, the real thing in chauffeurs.
"Whose car is this?" demanded Theydon.
"It