is; and it was a very happy
little party that met at the breakfast-table next day.

Mr. Harker, unable to sleep, had let his thoughts go back to Jessica;
and in the silence of the night a picture had arisen before his eyes; a
theatre in which a dark-eyed young girl was dancing, amidst a crowd of
others. In his delight at having a clue he cried aloud, "Ada Lester, at
the Rockingham!" The more he thought of it the more sure he felt that
this girl must be the daughter, or at least some connection, of the
well-known actress.

On questioning Jessica, all the information he could obtain from her was
that which she had given Adrien Leroy. Johann Wilfer was the boundary of
her existence. Harker remembered the name as that of the man from whom
he had bought the picture, and he also knew now that he it was who had
been responsible for Lucy's early sin. But he was not to be shaken from
his belief that in some way Jessica must be related to Ada Lester, and
he asked the girl whether she would travel up to London with him, and
trust herself to his care.

Jessica looked up into his lined face.

"Yes," she said simply, "if you won't give me back to Johann."

Harker readily promised this, and, amid many smiles and wavings of hand
from the assembled Ashford family, the two started on their way.

On reaching London, Mr. Harker's first visit was to the Casket Theatre,
which Jessica at once remembered as the one before which she had kept
watch for Adrien Leroy; and with that recollection came the memory of
the roll of papers which she had picked up. She related this little
incident to Harker; and undoing the bag in which kind-hearted Lucy had
put some clothes for her, she found the papers and gave them to him.

Harker looked them over, and gave a cry of joy; for he realised at once
that they delivered his arch-enemy into his hands--no miracle from
Heaven itself could have done more. Jessica did not understand the
reason for his excitement, but she was quite content to let the papers
remain in his keeping.

At the theatre he inquired for Miss Lester; and, it being matinee day,
he found that the popular actress had already arrived. It took time and
money to convince the military-looking door-keeper that it was
absolutely necessary to take an urgent message to Miss Lester, but
eventually this was done, and Mr. Harker, with Jessica---who was almost
dazed by the strangeness of her surroundings--found themselves in Miss
Lester's dressing