."

A man came into the rays of the head-lamp and passed to the door.

"Well," asked the doctor, "is there any trouble?"

"I saw the green lamp on the bonnet," said Gregory (Milsom no longer
wondered how the man had recognized the car from the score of others
which pass over the common), "there is no news of importance."

"Where is Beale?"

"At the old man's hotel. He has been there all day."

"Has he made any further visits to the police?"

"He was at Scotland Yard this afternoon."

"And the young lady?"

"One of the waiters at the hotel, a friend of mine, told me that she is
much better. She has had two doctors."

"And still lives?" said the cynical Milsom. "That makes four doctors she
has seen in two days."

Van Heerden leant out of the car window and lowered his voice.

"The Fraeulein Glaum, you saw her?"

"Yes, I told her that she must not come to your laboratory again until
you sent for her. She asked when you leave."

"That she must not know, Gregory--please remember."

He withdrew his head, tapped at the window and the car moved on.

"There's another problem for you, van Heerden," said Milsom with a
chuckle.

"What?" demanded the other sharply.

"Hilda Glaum. I've only seen the girl twice or so, but she adores you.
What are you going to do with her?"

Van Heerden lit a cigarette, and in the play of the flame Milsom saw him
smiling.

"She comes on after me," he said, "by which I mean that I have a place
for her in my country, but not----"

"Not the sort of place she expects," finished Milsom bluntly. "You may
have trouble there."

"Bah!"

"That's foolish," said Milsom, "the convict establishments of England
are filled with men who said 'Bah' when they were warned against jealous
women. If," he went on, "if you could eliminate jealousy from the human
outfit, you'd have half the prison warders of England unemployed."

"Hilda is a good girl," said the other complacently, "she is also a good
German girl, and in Germany women know their place in the system. She
will be satisfied with what I give her."

"There aren't any women like that," said Milsom with decision, and the
subject dropped.

The car stopped near the Marble Arch to put down Milsom, and van Heerden
continued his journey alone, reaching his apartments a little before
midnight. As he stepped out of the car a man strolled across the street.
It was Beale's watcher. Van Heerden looked round with a smile, realizing
the signifi