ooked after him with a scowl.

"He's a clever devil," he said, as he, too, went on his way.

Clever, Mr. Vermont most undoubtedly was. His worst enemies would not
have denied him that virtue; but in this case his cleverness had
over-reached itself. It had so amused him to torment his victim, that
he had never questioned Wilfer's statement that the girl, Jessica, was
his niece. Had he known her identity, subsequent events might have
proved far different; but man, with all his gifts, is blind as to the
future; he sees as in a glass darkly, trusting and believing in his own
feeble powers, as if he were omnipotent.

Meanwhile, Jasper trudged gaily along.

"Strange," he murmured, "how things work round for me. That princely
idiot plays into my hands at every turn. What luck that I should just
have followed him to-night--I'll live to see him humbled and disgraced
yet!" With which pleasant thought he hummed Miss Lester's latest song
and pursued his way to the theatre.

Some few hours later, he stood beside Adrien before the latter's motor.

"Are you coming with me, Jasper?" said Leroy heartily. "I'm afraid I've
taken up a lot of your time to-night."

"My dear Adrien, does not my whole life belong to you?" replied the
arch-hypocrite.

Adrien waved the suggestion aside.

"By the way, what is the time?" he said, feeling for his watch.

"I don't know," answered his friend, "mine has stopped."

"Well, mine has gone," said Leroy quietly. "I remember now; it was in
that affair in the park."

"What?" exclaimed Jasper, in tones of the deepest sympathy. "Not that
valuable repeater, surely?"

"Yes," said Adrien. "I must get another one."

Jasper smiled, as his fingers touched furtively the watch and chain in
question.

"Did you find your papers?" inquired Adrien, as they rolled through the
streets. "Jackson told me you lost them coming out of the theatre one
night."

"No," answered Vermont, a flush of annoyance crossing his brow. "I have
not. But it's of no consequence; Jackson need not have bothered you
about such a trifle. Merely accounts. I dropped them somewhere between
the stage and Ada's motor, and I suppose I must look upon them as gone
for ever."

"I hope not," said Adrien sympathetically.

"They are of no consequence," said Vermont again, as they reached Jermyn
Court.

Nevertheless, Mr. Vermont would have given many pounds of his
dearly-beloved money to have had those papers safely clutched in his
hand