6.15 p.m. In Town To-night.

400 Edition.

Once again we stop the mighty roar of London’s traffic and bring to you some of the interesting people who are in town to-night.

She put the paper down, and saw a small slip of paper on the floor. It was yellow with age, and when she picked it up, she saw some shorthand notes on it. She couldn’t make out the meaning, but it was obviously too old to matter. She screwed it up and tossed it into the waste-paper basket, then went across and glanced at herself in the mirror again, satisfied that she looked her best

It had been impossible to judge how long Bob would be, so they had arranged to meet outside the Aeolian Hall at half-past four. She had only twenty minutes to get there from St. John’s Wood; she shouldn’t have had a bath. She picked up her hand-bag and gloves, and stepped into the hall.

The front door bell rang.

“Oh, bother!” she exclaimed.

Even if the caller only delayed her for a few minutes, she could now no longer hope to be in New Bond Street at half-past four. She hurried to the door and opened it briskly. Then looked in surprise at two men—one little more than a boy. They were dressed in blue overalls, and one of them carried a rope-bag.

“Good-afternoon,” said Barbara.

“Afternoon. Miss. Come about the gas.”

“Gas?” echoed Barbara. “I haven’t sent——”

Then a great fear welled up in her, for the bigger of the two lunged forward. He had something in his hands—a large sponge. While that stab of fear was making her heart swell, and pain shot across her breast, he thrust the sponge into her face. She caught a whiff of a penetrating smell which took her breath away. Her hands were gripped from behind, and she felt herself dragged into the hall. She couldn’t see; something was burning her face, a cloud was filling her mind, it was as if she were breathing in smoke, dense black smoke. Then she couldn’t breathe at all. She retched. The pressure on her arms increased, the burning sensation was unbearable, but—it didn’t last long. That great black cloud enshrouded her, all other pain was lost in the agony of choking, she seemed to be rising from the floor.