"Homopoulo came running from your room, sir, and told me you were taken suddenly ill and that a doctor must be summoned without delay."
"Well, well, you fool!"
"Dr. Hamilton was away, sir."
"A false call beyond doubt!" snapped Smith.
"Therefore I went for the new doctor, Dr. Magnus, in the village. He came at once and I showed him up to your room. He sent Mrs. Oram out, leaving only Homopoulo and myself there, except yourself."
"Well?"
"Sandbagged!" explained the man nonchalantly. "Dr. Magnus, who is some kind of dago, is evidently one of the gang."
"Sir Lionel!" cried Smith—"where does the passage lead to beyond that doorway?
"God knows!" was the answer, which dashed my last hope to the ground.
"I have no more idea than yourself. Perhaps …"
He ceased speaking. A sound had interrupted him, which, in those grim surroundings, lighted by the solitary lantern, translated my thoughts magically to Ancient Rome, to the Rome of Tigellinus, to the dungeons of Nero's Circus. Echoing eerily along the secret passages it came— the roaring and snarling of the lioness and the leopards.