e has left me nothing?"

"Nothing!" exclaimed the handsome girl at his side. "What do you mean?"

"Well----" he said very slowly. "At present I have nothing--that's all.
That is why at Monte Carlo I suggested that--that----"

He did not conclude the sentence.

"I remember. You said that I had better marry George Sherrard--that
thick-lipped ass. You said that because you are hard-up?"

"Yes. I am hard-up. Very hard-up. At present I am existing in an obscure
lodging practically upon the charity of a man upon whom, so far as I can
ascertain, I have no claim whatsoever."

"The notorious thief?"

Hugh nodded, and said:

"That fact in itself mystifies me. I can see no motive. I am entirely
innocent of the crime attributed to me, and if Mademoiselle were in her
right mind she would instantly clear me of this terrible charge."

"But why did you go to her home that night, Hugh?"

"As I have already told you, I went to demand a reply to a single
question I put to her," he said. "But please do no let us discuss the
affair further. The whole circumstances are painful to me--more painful
than you can possibly imagine. One day--and I hope it will be soon--you
will fully realize what all this has cost me."

The girl drew a long breath.

"I know, Hugh," she said. "I know, dear--and I do trust you."

They halted, and he bent and impressed upon her lips a fierce caress.

So entirely absorbed in each other were the pair that they failed
to notice the slim figure of a man who had followed the girl at some
distance. Indeed, the individual in question had been lurking outside
the house in Grosvenor Gardens, and had watched Dorise leave. At the end
of the street a taxi was drawn up at the kerb awaiting him. Dorise had
hailed the man, but his reply was a surly "Engaged."

Then, walking about a couple of hundred yards, she had found another,
and entering it, had driven to the Marble Arch. But the first taxi
had followed the second one, and in it was the well-set-up man who was
silently watching her in the park as she walked with her lover towards
the Victoria Gate.

"What can I say to you in reply to your words of hope, darling?"
exclaimed Hugh as he walked beside her. "I know full well how much all
this must puzzle you. Have you seen Brock?"

"Oh! yes. I saw him two days ago. He called upon mother and had tea. I
managed to get five minutes alone with him, and I asked if he had heard
from you. He replied that he had not. He'