by story, intent on one subject only—to find Rose Trine, or else make sure she was not there.
He negotiated the flight of steps which led to the topmost floor with extraordinary stealth, advised thereto by a sound which had theretofore been inaudible to him. Possibly the manservant whom he fovind snoring in a chair outside a closed door had not fallen asleep and begun to snore until the moment when Alan set foot upon the lower step of that final ascent.
Turning the head of the stairs, Alan paused, intent on this man who must somehow be disposed of before he might solve the riddle of that shut and guarded door.
Aside from actual violence no solution offered to the puzzle; and violence was abruptly forced upon him.
No sound warned him of the door that opened at his back as he stood watching the sleeping guard. A piercing shriek was the first intimation received that his presence had been discovered. A glance over-shoulder showed him the figure of a maid-servant, her mouth still wide and full of sound, and Alan fell upon the guard like a thunderbolt. The man had barely time to jump up when a fist caught him on the point of his jaw, and he returned to unconsciousness.
Backing off, Alan took a short run and flung him-
