“Oh, much worse—­much, Mr. Cleek!  The knowledge that these would-be murderers, whoever they are, whatever may be their mysterious motive, have grown desperate enough to invade the house itself has driven Lady Chepstow well-nigh frantic.  Of course, orders were immediately given to the servants that no stranger, no matter how well dressed, how well seeming, nor what the plea, was, from that moment, to be allowed past the threshold.  We felt secure in that, knowing that no servant of the household would betray his or her trust, and that all would be on the constant watch for any further attempt.  The unknown enemy must have found out about these precautions, for no stranger came again to the door.  But last night a thing we had never counted upon happened.  In the dead of the night the unknown broke into the house—­into the very nursery itself—­and but that Lady Chepstow, impelled she does not know by what, only that she was nervous and wakeful, and felt the need of some companionship, rose and carried the sleeping child into her own bed, he would assuredly have been murdered.  The nurse, awakened by a horrible suffocating sensation, opened her eyes to find a man bending over her with a chloroform-soaked cloth, which he was about to lay over her face.  She shrieked and fainted, but not before she saw the man spring to the little bed on the other side of her own, hack furiously at it with a long, murderous knife, then dart to the window and vanish.  In the darkness he had not, of course, been able to see that that little bed was empty, for its position kept it in deep shadow, and hearing the household stir at the sound of the nurse’s shriek, he struck out blindly and flew to save himself from detection.  The nurse states that he was undoubtedly a foreigner—­a dark-skinned Asiatic—­and her description of him tallies with that his little lordship gave of the man who attempted to kill him that day in the Park.  There, Mr. Cleek,” she concluded, “that’s the whole story.  Can’t you do something to help us—­something to lift this constant state of dread and to remove this terrible danger from little Lord Chepstow’s life?”

“I’ll try, Miss Lorne; but it is a most extraordinary case.  Where is the boy, now?”

“At home, closely guarded.  We appealed to Mr. Narkom, and he generously appointed two detective officers to sit with his little lordship and keep constant watch over him whilst we are away.”

“And in the meantime,” added Mr. Narkom, “I’ve issued orders for a general rounding-up of all the Cingalese who can be traced or are known to be in town.  Petrie and Hammond have that part of the job in hand, and if they hit upon any Asiatic who answers to the description of this murderous rascal—­”

“I don’t believe they will,” interposed Cleek; “or, if they do, I don’t for a moment believe he will turn out to be the guilty party.  In other words, I have an idea that the fellow will prove to be a European.”