,"
declared the girl. "Mr. Duperre never met him after all."

"We must remain patient and watch," I urged.

This we did, and very soon there came a strange development of that
carefully planned introduction.

One day, on entering Rayne's study, I found him in conversation with a
tall, dark, fashionably dressed foreign woman--Spanish, I believed her
to be. As I went in unexpectedly she seemed to have risen and assumed
a fierce defiant attitude, while he, seated at his writing-table, was
smoking one of his favorite expensive cigars and contemplating her
with amusement.

"My dear Madame," he said, laughing, "pray sit down and let us discuss
the matter coolly. I do not wish you to act in any way to jeopardize
yourself. I have made certain plans; it is for you and your friends to
carry them out. And I know how clever is your friend Louis Larroca. So
there is no need for apprehension. Besides, if you trust me, as you
have done hitherto, you will find the whole affair works quite
easily--and without the least risk to yourselves."

Next second he realized that I had entered, and turning to me, said
quite quietly:

"I'm engaged just now, Hargreave."

So I was forced to withdraw, full of wonder as to the nature of the
latest conspiracy.

I found that a hired car from a garage at Thirsk was awaiting the
lady, who, I learned from the young footman, had given her name as
Madame Martoz.

A quarter of an hour later she drove away without, so far as I could
discern, having seen either Duperre or his wife.

Next day Rayne, whom I drove into York in the new two-seater Vauxhall,
told me as we went along that he was having a small house-party on the
following Thursday.

"Just a few personal friends," he added.

I smiled within myself, for I knew the character of the personal
friends of "The Golden Face."

Yet to my surprise, when Thursday came I found assembled half a dozen
perfectly honest and respectable men and their wives, and in some
cases their daughters. One was a London barrister, another a
well-known member of Parliament, a third a rich Leeds manufacturer,
while the others were more or less well known, and certainly all of
the highest respectability. When Rayne gave a house-party he always
did the thing well, and the days passed in a round of well-ordered
enjoyment, motoring, golf, tennis and visits to neighbors to the full
delight of everyone. In the evening there were dancing and billiards,
Duperre being the l