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 would be to slip quietly out of the house on foot and trust to the chance of discovering an unoccupied taxi on the road. To be sure, his previous experience in the motor had informed him that Imperia's house was located at a considerable distance from other habitations. This fact was not reassuring, but he did not permit it to interfere with his plan. The road assuredly was lonely, but in the circumstances—he simply could not imagine any valid excuse which would permit him to face a footman with a request for a taxi—it seemed to be the only course of action open to him. He therefore dressed as rapidly as possible and made his way softly out of the house.

He had closed the door behind him with extreme care and was suddenly conscious that he was tiptoeing down the drive as if he were a sneak-thief. Despite the fact that his heart was beating violently and that he would have stopped dead in his tracks had any one called to him, he smiled when he recalled that there was no reason whatever why he should not walk out in the morning if he chose to do so. Moreover he had no evidence that his mode of departure had been observed. Certainly no one called him back. Probably Imperia herself was sleeping, would continue to sleep for several hours.