me everything openly and freely, and
when you have done so I will give you all the information that lies in
my power."

CHAPTER L

RAWLINS IS CANDID

"So Reginald Henson bullies women," Rawlins said, after a long pause.
There was a queer smile on his face; he appeared perfectly at his ease.
He did not look in the least like a desperate criminal whom Chris could
have driven out of the country by one word to the police. In his
perfectly-fitting grey suit he seemed more like a lord of ancient acres
than anything else. "It is not a nice thing to bully women."

"Reginald Henson finds it quite a congenial occupation," Chris
said, bitterly.

Rawlins pulled thoughtfully at his cigarette.

"I am to a certain extent in your power," he said. "You have discovered
my identity at a time when I could sacrifice thousands for it not to be
known that I am in England. How you have discovered me matters as little
as how a card-player gets the ace of trumps. And I understand that the
price of your silence is the betrayal of Henson?"

"That is about what it comes to," said Chris.

"In the parlance of the lower type of rascal, I am to 'round on my pal'?"

"If you like to put it in that way, Mr. Smith."

"I never did such a thing in my life before. And, at the same time, I
don't mind admitting that I was never so sorely tried. At the present
moment I am on the verge of a large fortune, and I am making my grand
_coup_ honestly. Would you deem it exaggeration on my part if I said that
I was exceedingly glad of the fact?"

"Mr. Smith," Chris said, earnestly, "I have seen how fond you are of your
daughter."

"That is an exceedingly clever remark of yours, young lady," Rawlins
smiled. "You know that you have found the soft spot in my nature, and you
are going to hammer on it till you reduce me to submission. I am not a
religious man, but my one prayer is that Grace shall never find me out.
When my _coup_ comes off I am going to settle in England and become
intensely respectable."

"With Reginald Henson for your secretary, I suppose?"

"No, I am going to drop the past. But to return to our subject. Are you
asking me to betray Henson to the police?"

"Nothing of the kind," Chris cried, hastily. "I--I would do anything to
avoid a family scandal. All I want is a controlling power over the man."

"The man who bullies women?"

"The same. For seven years he has wrecked the lives of five of us--three
women. He has parted husb