conscious, which was on her way to business, she
realized she was worried. She had been made a party to a secret without
her wish--and the drunken Mr. Beale, that youthful profligate, had
really forced this confidence upon her. Only, and this she recalled with
a start which sent her chin jerking upward (she was in the bus at the
time and the conductor, thinking she was signalling him to stop, pulled
the bell), only Mr. Beale was surprisingly sober and masterful for one
so weak of character.

Ought she to tell the doctor--Dr. van Heerden, who had been so good a
friend of hers? It seemed disloyal, it was disloyal, horribly disloyal
to him, to hide the fact that Mr. Beale had actually been in the
doctor's room at night.

But was it a coincidence that the same key opened her door and the
doctor's? If it were so, it was an embarrassing coincidence. She must
change the locks without delay.

The bus set her down at the corner of Punsonby's great block. Punsonby's
is one of the most successful and at the same time one of the most
exclusive dress-houses in London, and Oliva had indeed been fortunate in
securing her present position, for employment at Punsonby's was almost
equal to Government employment in its permanency, as it was certainly
more lucrative in its pay.

As she stepped on to the pavement she glanced up at the big ornate
clock. She was in good time, she said to herself, and was pushing open
the big glass door through which employees pass to the various
departments when a hand touched her gently on the arm.

She turned in surprise to face Mr. Beale, looking particularly smart in
a well-fitting grey suit, a grey felt hat and a large bunch of violets
in his buttonhole.

"Excuse me, Miss Cresswell," he said pleasantly, "may I have one word
with you?"

She looked at him doubtfully.

"I rather wish you had chosen another time and another place, Mr.
Beale," she said frankly.

He nodded.

"I realize it is rather embarrassing," he said, "but unfortunately my
business cannot wait. I am a business man, you know," he smiled, "in
spite of my dissolute habits."

She looked at him closely, for she thought she detected a gentle mockery
behind his words, but he was not smiling now.

"I won't keep you more than two minutes," he went on, "but in that two
minutes I have a great deal to tell you. I won't bore you with the story
of my life."

This time she saw the amusement in his eyes and smiled against her will,
beca