XXVII DRIVING IT HOME 202

XXVIII HONOUR BRIGHT 209

XXIX ACTING THE FRIEND 216

XXX AN ULTIMATUM 223

XXXI A POINT-BLANK REFUSAL 230

XXXII AN EASY FALL 238

XXXIII THE FIVE BASKETS 246

XXXIV NO. 5 253

XXXV A POISONOUS ATMOSPHERE 260

XXXVI FIELDEN INTERVENES 268

XXXVII BETWEEN TWO FIRES 276

XXXVIII LOOSENING THE GRIP 283

XXXIX A DRAMATIC EXIT 291

XL CAUGHT! 298

XLI HOME AGAIN 305

XLII FIRST PAST THE POST 312

CHAPTER I

A MODERN SPORTSMAN

It was a gala night at the National Opera House, and the theatre was
crammed from floor to roof, for Melba was sustaining a new part, and all
London had gathered to listen. It was rarely indeed that so fashionable
an audience assembled in February. The boxes were ablaze with diamonds.
On the grand tier, however, there was one box which was not filled with
gaily garbed women and which attracted attention by the fact that its
sole occupants were a girl and two men. Though she was quietly dressed
and wore no ornaments except flowers, nevertheless a good many women
envied May Haredale; for the box belonged to Raymond Copley, who was
quite the last thing in the way of South African millionaires. He was a
youngish, smart-looking Englishman of the florid type, was becoming
known as a sportsman and, according to all accounts, was fabulously
rich. He was supposed to have discovered diamonds in Rhodesia, a stroke
of fortune which put him in a position, it was alleged, practically, to
dictate terms to the De Beers Company, and those "in the know" in the
City declared he had come out of a negotiation for amalgamation with two
millions of money in his pocket.

Be that as it may, he had purchased a fine old estate within twenty
miles of London, and lavished large sums upon his racing stud, and
people began to court his acquaintance. He was on very friendly terms
with his near neighbour, Sir George Haredale, of Haredale Park, which
accounted for the fact that the Baronet and his only daughter were
availing themselves of Copley's hospitality that evening.

May