Sincerely yours,
Sybil Bultiwell.

P.S. I dare say you have heard that my mother has gone to
make a long stay with a sister at Torquay, and I have let
our Cropstone Wood house at quite a nice profit. I am
staying for a few weeks with Lady Powers, who was at school
with me.

Jacob summoned Dauncey and put the letter into his hand.

"Read this, my astute friend, and comment," he invited.

Dauncey read and reread it before passing it back.

"The young lady," he observed, "is becoming amenable. She is also, I
should imagine, hankering after the fleshpots. A month or two of
typing has perhaps had its effect."

"Any other criticism?"

Dauncey shook his head.

"It seems to me an ordinary communication enough," he confessed.

"I suppose you are right," Jacob admitted thoughtfully. "Perhaps I am
getting suspicious. It must have been seeing Miss Bultiwell with that
hateful crowd."

"You think that the dancing class is a blind?"

Jacob glanced back at the letter and frowned.

"I don't think Miss Bultiwell would stoop to anything in the nature of
a conspiracy, but those two men, Hartwell and Mason, are out and out
wrong 'uns, and it is several months since any one tried to rob me."

"You'll go, all the same," Dauncey observed, with a smile.

Jacob leaned over to the telephone.

"Museum 1324," he demanded.

At half-past four that afternoon, Jacob rang the bell at a large and
apparently empty house in Russell Square. The door was opened after a
brief delay by a woman who appeared to be a caretaker and who invited
him to ascend to the next floor. Jacob did so, and, pushing open a
door which was standing ajar, found himself in a large apartment with
a polished oak floor, two or three lounges by the wall, a gramophone,
and a young lady whom he recognised as Sybil's companion at the Milan.

"Mr. Pratt," she greeted him sweetly. "I am so glad to know you."

Jacob shook hands and murmured something appropriate.

"Sybil will be here in a few minutes," the young lady continued. "You
are going to have a lesson, aren't you?"

"I believe so," Jacob answered. "I hope you won't find me very
stupid."

She smiled up into his face.

"You don't look as though you would be. I am Sybil's partner, Grace
Powers. I saw you at the Milan the other day, didn't I? Are you in a
great hurry to start, or would you like to sit and talk for a few
minutes?"

Jacob accepted the cha