llinery
department with a good testimonial from an establishment in Walham
Green, that she lived in lodgings at Fulham and saw scarcely anyone, and
that she had once been a typewriter.

'The fact is--'

He stopped, perceiving that the 'fact' would not do at all, and that to
explain to the woman you love why you have spied on her is a somewhat
nice operation.

'Is that the way you usually serve us?' pursued Camilla, with a strange
emphasis on the word 'us' which maddened him.

'The fact is, Miss Payne,' he said boldly, sitting down as soon as he
had invented the solution of the difficulty, 'you will not deny that
this afternoon and this evening you have been in a position of some
slight delicacy. What your relations are with Mr. Francis Tudor I have
never sought to inquire, but I have always doubted the bona fides of Mr.
Francis Tudor. And to-day I have simply--if I may say so--watched over
you. If my man has been clumsy, I beg your forgiveness. I beg you to
believe in my deep respect for you.'

The plain sincerity of his accent and of his gaze touched and convinced
her. She looked at her feet, white-shod on the crimson carpet.

'Ah!' she murmured, as if to herself, mournfully, 'why don't you ask me
how it is that I, to whom you pay thirty-six shillings a week, am
wearing these clothes? Surely you must think that an employe who--'

'At this hour you are not an employe,' he interrupted here. 'You visit
me of your own free will to demand an explanation of matters which are
quite foreign to our business relations. I give it you. Beyond that I
permit myself no thoughts except such as any man is entitled to
concerning any woman. You used the word "plot" when you came in. What
did you refer to? If Mr. Tudor has--' He could not proceed.

'As I left Mr. Tudor's flat a few minutes since,' said Camilla quietly,
producing a revolver from the folds of her cloak, 'I picked up this. It
may or may not be loaded. Perhaps you can tell me.'

He seized the weapon, and impetuously aimed at a heavy Chinese gong
across the room, and pulled the trigger several times. The revolver
spoke noisily, and the gong sounded and swung.

'You see!' he exclaimed. 'Pardon the din. I did it without thinking.'

'Did you call, sir?' asked Simon Shawn, appearing in the doorway.

Hugo extirpated him with a look.

'How cool you are!' he resumed to Camilla, and laid down the revolver.
'No, you aren't! By Jove, you aren't! What is it? What have you