rnoon, if I may," he said. "We might
take a stroll round together."

He called on me about half-past five, and we reached the street just as
the one solitary gas-lamp had been lighted. I pointed out the house to
him, and he crossed over and looked at the number.

"Quite right," he said, on returning. "I made inquiries this morning.
She was released six weeks ago on ticket-of-leave."

He took my arm.

"Not much use hanging about," he said. "The blind won't go up
to-night. Rather a clever idea, selecting a house just opposite a
lamp-post."

He had an engagement that evening; but later on he told me the
story--that is, so far as he then knew it.

* * *

It was in the early days of the garden suburb movement. One of the
first sites chosen was off the Finchley Road. The place was in the
building, and one of the streets--Laleham Gardens--had only some half a
dozen houses in it, all unoccupied save one. It was a lonely, loose
end of the suburb, terminating suddenly in open fields. From the
unfinished end of the road the ground sloped down somewhat steeply to a
pond, and beyond that began a small wood. The one house occupied had
been bought by a young married couple named Hepworth.

The husband was a good-looking, pleasant young fellow. Being
clean-shaven, his exact age was difficult to judge. The wife, it was
quite evident, was little more than a girl. About the man there was a
suggestion of weakness. At least, that was the impression left on the
mind of the house-agent. To-day he would decide, and to-morrow he
changed his mind. Jetson, the agent, had almost given up hope of
bringing off a deal. In the end it was Mrs. Hepworth who, taking the
matter into her own hands, fixed upon the house in Laleham Gardens.
Young Hepworth found fault with it on the ground of its isolation. He
himself was often away for days at a time, travelling on business, and
was afraid she would be nervous. He had been very persistent on this
point; but in whispered conversations she had persuaded him out of his
objection. It was one of those pretty, fussy little houses; and it
seemed to have taken her fancy. Added to which, according to her
argument, it was just within their means, which none of the others
were. Young Hepworth may have given the usual references, but if so
they were never taken up. The house was sold on the company's usual
terms. The deposit was paid by a cheque, whi