hould trust me."

"Except your face," she answered impulsively. "Sir, you are an honest
gentleman. Chance, or fate, has thrown you in my way. I must go to
somebody for advice. I have no friends in San Francisco that can help
me--none nearer than Tennessee. You are a lawyer. Isn't it your business
to advise?"

"If you put it that way. But it is only fair to say that I am a very
inexperienced one. To be frank, I've never had a client of my own."

Faith, her smile was warm as summer sunshine.

"Then I'll be your first, unless you refuse the case. But it may turn
out dangerous. I have no right to ask you to take a risk for me"--she
blushed divinely--"especially since I am able to pay so small a fee."

"My fee shall be commensurate with my inexperience," I smiled. "And are
you thinking for a moment that I would let my first case get away from
me at all? As for the danger--well, I'm an Irishman."

"But it isn't really a law case at all."

"So much the better. I'll have a chance of winning it then."

"It will be only a chance."

"We'll turn the chance into a certainty."

"You seem very sure, sir."

"I must, for confidence is all the stock in trade I have," was my gay
answer.

From her bag Miss Wallace took the map and handed it to me.

"First, then, you must have this put in a safety-deposit vault until we
need it. I'm sure attempts will be made to get it."

"By whom?"

"By my cousin. He'll stick at nothing. If you had met him you would
understand. He is a wonder. I'm afraid of him. His name is Boris
Bothwell--Captain Bothwell, lately cashiered from the British army for
conduct unbecoming a gentleman. In one of his rages he nearly killed a
servant."

"But you are not English, are you?"

"He is my second cousin. He isn't English, either. His father was a
Scotchman, his mother a Russian."

"That explains the name--Boris Bothwell."

Like an echo the words came back to me from over my shoulder.

"Capt. Boris Bothwell to see you, Mr. Sedgwick."

In surprise I swung around. The office boy had come in quietly, and hard
on his heels was a man in a frogged overcoat with astrakhan trimmings.
Not half an hour earlier I had sat opposite him at luncheon.

CHAPTER II

CAPTAIN BOTHWELL INTERRUPTS

As he moved into the room with his easy, vigorous stride, one could not
miss the impression, of his extraordinary physical power.

I am an outdoor man myself, but I have never seen the day when I was a
match