me, knowing even the little I did know at that time
of the man's character to allow Molly and Miss Kedison to go wandering
over the country alone with him. I feared that he might compromise them
in some way, or even resort to blackmail, and with this danger before my
mind, I offered to accompany the ladies on their car to the Riviera. I
made the suggestion to Miss Kedison, not to Molly, and hinted to her
something concerning my motives, cautioning her at the same time that
silence was vitally important until I could give her leave to speak. You
may think that I was taking a good deal on myself; but I have a great
regard for you, as well as an unfortunately deep affection for Molly,
and as I have made many intimate friends among the highest in the land,
all over the Continent, as in England, I felt that my presence in the
car might be especially helpful.

During the first day or two of our journey I caught Brown in several
audacious lies. He was insolent to me, evidently afraid that I meant to
lose him his berth, and inclined to be so familiar with the ladies,
Molly particularly, that my suspicions of him were roused to fever heat.
I began to see that his ambitions tended higher than I had at first
supposed, and--I hope you will forgive my frankness--I should not be
surprised if some day before long Molly should have a startling
awakening.

I questioned her carefully as to what Brown had said to her of his late
master's movements, and it appeared that, according to the _chauffeur_,
the Honourable John Winston had returned to England, leaving Brown to
hire out and drive his automobile. This seemed strange to me, and I
asked myself if it were possible that the fellow could have contrived to
steal the car, and be using it for his own purposes, taking the money
derived from its hire for himself. One thing which encouraged this
deduction was the extremely low rent asked for the vehicle and the small
wages demanded by Brown. But it was at Toulon that a still more sinister
idea was forced into my mind by a startling incident to which I will
draw your attention.

You will very likely have heard from Molly that owing to a side-slip
which might have happened to anyone in driving an automobile, we had an
upset by the roadside, and in common politeness I was compelled to obey
Miss Kedison's request to remain with her at a small village, some miles
from Toulon, while Molly went on to see a doctor about an injury to her
wrist, Brow