another."

"Perhaps so, but it's just a trifle confusing, because--" Juliet drew
herself up on the verge of an incriminating confession. "As you say, it
doesn't really matter, but I am naturally interested. Who _is_ Clare
Lawson?"

"Er--as a matter of fact, there is no such person. I invented a
fictitious girl, then, suddenly, was called upon for her name, so had to
christen her on the spur of the moment. Clare happened to be the name
of the heroine in a novel I'd just finished reading, and Lawson was the
first surname which came to my mind. It's not such a _bad_ name, is
it?"

Juliet made an expressive little grimace.

"Considered as an artistic effort, I can't say much for it. You might
have done so much better. Clare! I'm not a bit like a Clare. And who
is Clare _supposed_ to be?"

He looked at her with a keen, comprehensive glance. Juliet had an
impression that what he saw increased his embarrassment, from the very
reason of his admiration. What he had to say would evidently have been
easier if she had been less attractive, had not so obviously belonged to
his own class. The flush mounted once more to his cheeks.

"Miss Lawson, I should like to begin with a word of self-defence. I
have the reputation of being straight in my dealings and I think I may
say that it is deserved, yet at this moment, owing to an--impulse, to--
er--the folly of a moment, I find myself stranded, implicated--how shall
I express it? I'm in the dickens of a hole, anyway, and for the moment
can't imagine how I am ever to get out."

"And if you only knew it, _so am I_!" was Juliet's mental
reflection. Aloud, she said sententiously, "Such things _do_ happen.
I've heard of them. Please tell me about it. Perhaps I can help."

"That's ripping of you! You see, obviously, there _had_ to be a girl,
and, obviously also, I couldn't ask a friend. There was nothing for it
but to get someone from outside. I searched the newspapers and spotted
your office. They said they employed ladies, and being trained to
detec--to inquiry work, I thought it would come easy to act a part."

In after years Juliet never quite understood how she retained her
balance at that moment, and did not topple sideways, fall out of the
high cart, and find a solution of her troubles. The sudden realisation
that she was masquerading as nothing more or less than a lady detective,
was so stunning in its unexpectedness and chagrin, that even the tactful
so