They took a four-man platform and made the trip, with the orderly as guide. Coming down in the garden of the residence, Donal left the orderly with the platform, motioned Lee to accompany him, and entered the house.

He walked through silent rooms, inhabited only by furniture. All the residents of the house seemed to have vanished. After some little time, he began to think that perhaps the report had been in error; and that William was gone, too. And then he passed through an archway into a little anteroom and found himself facing Anea.

She met his gaze with a pale but composed face.

“Where is he?” asked Donal.

She turned and indicated a door on the far side of the room.

“It’s locked,” she said. “He was in there when your men started to land; and he’s never come out. Nobody else would stay here with him. I . . . I couldn’t leave.”

“Yes,” said Donal, somberly. He examined the locked door from across the room. “It wouldn’t have been easy—for him.”

“You care about him?” Her voice brought his head up sharply. He looked at her, seeking some note of mockery in her expression. But there was none. She was honestly questioning.

“I care somewhat for every man,” he said. He walked across the room to the door and laid his hand upon it. On a sudden impulse, he put his thumb into the finger-lock—and the door swung open.

A sudden coldness blossomed inside him.

“Stay with her,” he threw over his shoulder to Lee. He pushed open the door, found himself faced by another, heavier door—but one which also opened to his touch—and went in.

At the end of a long room William sat behind a desk occupied by a mass of papers. He stood up as Donal entered.

“So you’re finally here,” he said, calmly. “Well, well.”

Going closer, Donal examined the man’s face and eyes. There was nothing there to evoke such a notion; but Donal had the sudden suspicion that William was not as he should be.

“It was a very good landing. Very good,” said William tiredly. “It was a clever trick. I acknowledge the fact, you see. I underestimated you from the first day I met you. I freely admit it. I’m quite conquered—am I not?”

Donal approached to the other side of the desk. He looked into William’s calm exhausted face.

“Ceta is in my control,” said Donal. “Your expeditionary forces on the other worlds are cut off—and their contracts aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. Without you to give the orders, it’s all over with.”