mean arrest, conviction and
imprisonment, notwithstanding any disclosures I might make. Rudolph
Rayne remained always with clean hands, the rich country gentleman and
personal friend of certain Justices of the Peace, officials, and
others, with whom he played golf and invited to his shooting parties
on the Yorkshire moors which he rented with money stolen in divers
ways and in various cities.

So, to cut a long story short, I met the mysterious Italian crook next
day--and I fell, for I took the master-key and agreed to attempt the
theft of Lady Lydbrook's pearls!

I now saw through Rayne's devilish plot. I was to be used still
further as his cat's-paw, and he had planned that because of my
friendship with the pretty young woman, at his orders I was to steal
her property.

I felt myself alone and in a cleft stick. That afternoon, as I sat at
tea in the lounge with the woman whose jewels I was ordered to steal,
I was torn by a thousand emotions, yet I pretended to be my usual
self, and at my invitation she went out for a motor run between tea
and dinner.

Though I laughed at my foolishness, I somehow suspected that she now
viewed me with distinct misgiving. It now became necessary for me to
prospect for the little morocco case in which I knew she kept her
pearls. Therefore I at last summoned courage, and one evening, just
before half-past seven, while she was dressing for dinner, I knocked
and made excuse to ask her if she would go to the theater with me.

"Do come in," she cried, for she was already dressed in a bright
sapphire-colored gown which greatly heightened her beauty. As she
admitted me, I saw the little jewel-case standing upon a tiny
side-table near the window. She was not wearing her beautiful rope of
pearls, therefore they were, without a doubt, safe in the case.

She thanked me and accepted, so I quickly went downstairs and told the
hall porter to telephone for two stalls.

That night, on arrival back at the hotel, it occurred to me that if
the little jewel-case had been left where it was my chance had now
arrived. I was being forced against my will to become a thief. Rayne,
the man who held me in his grip, had driven me to it and had placed
the means at my disposal. To refuse would mean arrest and the loss of
Lola.

We sat down in the lounge and I called for drinks--she was thirsty and
would like a lemon squash, she said. Before the waiter brought them, I
made leisurely excuse to go to the bure