legram from Miss Wray, don't you know."

"Miss Wray!" Steele's hand fell suddenly to his side; he looked with
abrupt, swift inquiry at the other.

Captain Forsythe bit his lips. "By Jove!--forgot--" he murmured. "Wasn't
to say anything about that."

"However, as you have--" John Steele regarded him steadily. "You
received a telegram from--"

"At the same time that your letter intercepted me at Brighton."

"Asking you to return to London?"

"Exactly. She--wanted to see me."

"About?" John Steele's eyes asked a question; the other nodded. "Of
course; not difficult to understand; her desire to hush up the affair;
her fear," with a short laugh, "lest the scandal become known. A guest
at Strathorn House had been--"

"I don't think it was for--"

"You found out," shortly, "that she, too, had learned--knew--"

"Yes; she made me aware of that at once when she came to see me with Sir
Charles. It was she sent your luggage--"

"Sir Charles? Then he, also?--"

"No. You--you need feel no apprehension on that score." A peculiar
expression came into the other's glance. "You see his niece told him it
was not her secret; asked him to help her, to trust her. Never was a man
more perplexed, but he kept the word he gave her on leaving for London,
and forebore to question her. Even when they drove through London in
that fog--"

"Yes, yes. I know--"

"You? How--?"

John Steele seemed not to hear. "She saw you that night?"

"She did, alone in the garden of Rosemary Villa. Sir Charles behaved
splendidly. 'All right, my dear; some day you'll tell me, perhaps,' he
said to her. 'Meanwhile, I'll possess my soul in patience.' So while he
smoked in the cab, we talked it over." An instant he regarded John
Steele as if inviting him to look behind these mere words; but John
Steele's half-averted face appeared set, uncommunicative. Perhaps again
he saw the girl as he had last seen her at Strathorn House; her
features, alive, alight, with scorn and wounded pride.

"Well?" he said shortly. "And the upshot of it all was--"

"She suggested my going to Lord Ronsdale."

"To invoke his assistance, perhaps!" Steele once more laughed. "As an
old friend!" Captain Forsythe started to speak; the other went on:
"Well, we'll keep his secret, as long as he keeps his compact."

"But--"

"I promised. What does it matter? Sir Charles may be disappointed at not
being able to bring about--But for her sake--that is the main
consideration."

"An