At either end of my house there runs out a projection, formed by the bay windows of the principal drawing-room and of the dining room respectively.

These projecting walls form shadows, and in the shade of one of them--of which I do not know, nor is it of moment--a man watched all that passed; had he been anywhere else, Rudolf must have seen him.

If we had not been too engrossed in playing our own hands, it would doubtless have struck us as probable that Rupert would direct Rischenheim and Bauer to keep an eye on my house during his absence; for it was there that any of us who found our way to the city would naturally resort in the first instance.

As a fact, he had not omitted this precaution.

The night was so dark that the spy, who had seen the king but once and never Mr.Rassendyll, did not recognize who the visitor was, but he rightly conceived that he should serve his employer by tracking the steps of the tall man who made so mysterious an arrival and so surreptitious a departure from the suspected house.