hing--except to keep on
promising that you will be saved. And that is enough for me."

A frown darkened Layton's face.

"I wish you would not put yourself so completely into the hands of a
stranger," he said doubtfully. "Who and what, is this man? And how does
he come to be mixed up in this affair?"

"I know nothing whatever about him," she replied. "But there is
something that makes me trust him. I believe he will keep his promise."

"I don't like it," he insisted.

"If I didn't help him," she said, "I could do nothing. And I should go
mad."

"What has he given you to do?" he asked.

"I promised not to tell any one," she hesitated.

He shrugged his shoulders.

"You had better tell me. You have no one else to protect you."

"It is something I can't understand," she said slowly. "This morning I
had to write out the names and addresses of all the Art and Picture
Dealers from the _Directory_, and this afternoon I am to go round in a
car to as many of them as I can, with a letter from the French Embassy,
to ask if any articles have ever been supplied to, or orders taken from,
a Miss Masters, of 35, De Vere Terrace, Streatham, and if so, what."

Layton stared at her in astonishment.

"What possible connection can that have with the case?" he exclaimed.

"I don't know," she said again. "I've tried to think."

"The French Embassy," he mused. "That is strange...."

He checked himself, and looked at his watch.

"You time is nearly up," he said. "Listen to me carefully. There is one
very important thing that I want you to understand. Whatever may develop
in the meantime, I intend to prepare for the worst."

He kept her silent with a firm gesture.

"My work must go on. No matter what happens to me, my work must go on.
And it must be carried on as I have begun it, by some one who has worked
with me, and understands my objects--by some one who is human, and
unlimited by sect or creed. I don't want to make people religious--it
would spoil most of them. I want to make them healthy and happy. I would
rather they were clean pagans than unclean Christians. No soul is saved
or lost because it happens to take a certain view of the Mysteries of
God. It is the bodies I care for--the bodies I want to build. Humanity
should be a song of thanksgiving, not a prayer for alleviation."

The fires kindled again. His face was lit up.

"You must continue my work. If I should have to leave it ... you will
find everything yours.