igns of family affection. Instinct
told him that some caresses and a petting were what his sister longed
for. For weeks she had been robbed of a lover's devotion, a very fine
lover, who had filled her days with romance and her heart with song.

"You weren't a bit a brute, Meg. You were just as usual, a bit more
like a man than a girl. I'd have done and said just as you did if
anyone had said things about the woman I loved--or, I hope I should."

Meg only hugged her brother. Words were beyond her. She knew by the
way he was speaking that he was quite glad to help her, now that he had
got over the disagreeable business of telling her and warning her, that
his efforts would be turned now towards the finding of Michael's
whereabouts and dotting to the bottom of the gossip. She looked up
with cheerful eyes.

"Do you remember that day, Freddy, when Millicent Mervill lunched here?"

"Rather!"

"And you said she came for some object which she took care not to
reveal?"

"Yes, I remember."

"Well, I never told you, because I thought you had good reason for
thinking that I was too hard on her, that I was jealous of her, to the
exclusion of all reason. . . ."

"You are pretty good at hating, Meg."

"Well, Mohammed Ali has since told me where he found her eye of Horus.
Guess where it was."

Freddy laughed. "I'm sure I couldn't."

"She read my diary all the time she was here alone. He says she asked
if she might rest and tidy up in my room. He found the eye of Horus
just beside the table where she had been reading it. He thinks that it
must have caught in the key of the drawer in the table. Probably she
thought we were coming and moved quickly away--the ring was easily
wrenched open."

"The little cad!" Freddy said slowly. "The venomous little toad!"

"In my diary, Freddy, I referred to Michael's strange journey, his
journey to King Solomon's Mines, as we always called it."

Freddy freed himself from his sister's arms and lit a cigarette.

"What a mean little brute! Mohammed Ali was probably in her pay; he
told her he had found the eye at the spot where she dismounted."

"He said he told that lie because Madam made a face at him. He
confesses to that."

Freddy thought for a moment while he smoked, then he said slowly and
deliberately: "If she got that information from your diary, she could
easily get more. _Baksheesh_ will make the dead give up their secrets.
That is why Bismarck said to his gene