“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.”