d see pretty well himself, without being
discovered. A pretty girl, with wonderfully beautiful fair hair and dark
vivacious eyes, came into the room. She was not in the least timid;
there was an air of eager expectation about her.

"This is very good of you," she said. "I understand that you sent for
me. If you are not in a proper state of health to talk to me I can call
again, Mr. Sartoris."

Just for the moment Sartoris made no reply. It seemed to Field that he
was not altogether free from physical pain. He shaded his spectacled
eyes with a trembling hand, as if the light proved a little too strong
for him.

"It is not in the least inconvenient," he said. "I sent for you at this
somewhat late hour because I may have to leave England to-morrow. If I
do so it will be for some considerable time."

In his mind, Field differed. He had other views for the speaker. He was
puzzled, too, at all these quick changes, and because there were so many
threads in the plot.

"I can give you an hour," the girl said. "I _must_ be in London by ten
o'clock."

"Very well, I dare say we can manage it by that time. As I told you in
my letter, I am a very old friend of your father. We were in one or two
ventures together, and some of them turned out to be very successful
indeed. Did he ever mention my name?"

"I cannot call it to mind," the girl said. "And yet it is not a common
name."

"It is not in the least common," Sartoris smiled. "Perhaps your father
did not speak of me because we were not quite friends towards the last.
At one time I was to be your guardian if anything happened to your
father. But we need not go into that, because it is not material to the
case at all." The girl nodded brightly, and her eyes expressed
admiration of the beauty of the surroundings.

"I believe my guardian was Sir Charles Darryll," she said.

"So I understand," Sartoris proceeded in the same grave way. "It was a
most extraordinary selection for a man with a keen business head like
your father."

"But you are greatly mistaken," the girl exclaimed. "My father was a
perfect child in business matters. Even I was capable of advising him
for his good. I should say that there never lived a man who was so
easily befooled as my father."

"Is that so?" Sartoris blurted out. "I'm--I mean, of course, yes, as to
mere money, but he was clever enough in some ways. Still, the fact
remains that he made Sir Charles Darryll your guardian. Did you ever
troub