THE HORUS STONE An hour later Phadrig, the poor curio dealer, had disappeared, and Mr Phadrig Amena, the wonder-working Adept, clad in evening clothes and a light overcoat, alighted from a hansom at the great entrance to the Royal Court Mansions.

The huge, gorgeously uniformed guardian of the Gilded Gates was saluting at his elbow in an instant, for a friend of Princes is a very great man in the eyes of even such dignitaries as he.
"The Prince expects you, sir," he said, loud enough to make the title heard by those who were standing by.

"Will you be good enough to walk in?
I will discharge the cab." He stood aside with a bow and another salute, and Phadrig walked lightly up the broad steps.

Peter Petroff opened the door of the flat, bowing low, and conducted him to his master's sanctum.

Evidently he was expected, for the coffee apparatus stood ready on the Moorish table beside the cosy chair which he was wont to occupy.