the
reading was in progress, whereupon Sir Henry always excused himself,
saying that he locked his door against his guests when he wished to be
alone, an explanation which her ladyship accepted.

These strangely worded reports in French always puzzled the Baronet's
daughter. Sometimes she became seized by a vague suspicion that her
father was carrying on some business which was not altogether
honourable. Why should he enjoin such secrecy? Why should he cause her
to write and despatch with her own hand such curiously worded telegrams,
addressed always to the registered address: "METEFOROS, PARIS"?

Those neatly typed pages which she read could be always construed in two
or three senses. But only her father knew the actual meaning which the
writer intended to convey. For hours she would often be engaged in
reading them. Sometimes, too, telegrams in cipher arrived, and she would
then obtain the little, dark-blue covered book from the safe, and by its
aid decipher the messages from the French capital.

Questions, curious questions, were frequently asked by the anonymous
sender of the reports; and to these her father replied by means of his
private code. She had become during the past year quite an expert
typist, and therefore to her the Baronet entrusted the replies, always
impressing upon her the need of absolute secrecy, even from her mother.

"My affairs," he often declared, "concern nobody but myself. I trust in
you, Gabrielle dear, to guard my secrets from prying eyes. I know that
you yourself must often be puzzled, but that is only natural."

Unfamiliar as the girl was with business in any form, she had during the
past year arrived at the conclusion, after much debate within herself,
that this source of her father's income was a distinctly mysterious one.
The estates were, of course, large, and he employed agents to manage
them; but they could not produce that huge income which she knew he
possessed, for had she not more than once seen the amount of his balance
at his banker's as well as the large sum he had on deposit? The source
of his colossal wealth was a mystery, but was no doubt connected with
his curious and constant communications with Paris.

At rare intervals a grey-faced, grey-bearded, and rather stout
Frenchman--a certain Monsieur Goslin--called, and on such occasions was
closeted for a long time alone with Sir Henry, evidently discussing some
important affair in secret. To her ladyship, as well as to