I believed, vainly
perhaps, that I might one day be able to shield Lola from becoming
their accomplice--and thus culpable.

According to Rayne's instructions I next day made myself as affable as
possible to Mrs. Blumenfeld, but later in the afternoon I had an
opportunity of chatting with Lola alone. She wanted to go to a shop in
Warwick, and asked me to take her there in the car, which I did. The
driver's seat was inside the car, hence, when alone, she always sat
beside me.

"What do you think of Mrs. Blumenfeld?" I asked her as we sped along
through the rain.

"Oh! Well, I don't like her--that's all," was her reply, as she
smiled.

"I think she's quite nice," I said. "She was most charming to me this
morning."

"And she is also charming to me. But she seems so horribly
inquisitive, and asks me so many questions about my father--questions
I can't answer."

"Why not?" I asked, turning to her and for a second taking my eyes off
the road.

"Well--you know, Mr. Hargreave--you surely know," the girl hesitated.
"Why are we on this visit? My father has some sinister plans--without
a doubt."

"How sinister plans?" I asked, in pretence of ignorance.

"You well know," she answered. "I am not blind, even if Duperre and
his wife think I am. They forget that there is such a thing as
illustrated papers."

"I don't follow," I said.

"Well, in the _Daily Graphic_ three days ago I saw the portrait of a
man named Lawrence, well-known as a jewel thief, who was sentenced to
ten years' penal servitude at the Old Bailey. I recognized him as Mr.
Moody, one of my father's friends who often came to see us at
Overstow--a man you also know. Why has my father thieves for his
friends, unless he is in some way connected with them?"

"Moody sentenced!" I gasped. "Why, he was one of Duperre's most
intimate friends. I've met them together often," I remarked, and then
the conversation dropped, and we sat silent for a full quarter of an
hour.

"I'm longing to get back to Overstow, Mr. Hargreave," the girl went on
presently. "I feel that ere long Mrs. Blumenfeld, who is a very clever
and astute woman, will discover something about us, and then----"

"And if she does, it will upset your father's plans--whatever they
are!"

"But Mr. Blumenfeld, as a great financier, has agents in all the
capitals, and they might inquire and discover more about us than would
be pleasant," she said apprehensively. "I wonder why we are visiting
these pe