I am going to take it before your eyes, and thank Mr. Van
Torp for being so splendidly generous. Now go, and take those persons
with you, and let me hear no more of this!'

Thereupon Lady Maud came forward from the mantelpiece and deliberately
took from the table the envelope which contained four thousand one
hundred pounds in new Bank of England notes; and she put it into the
bosom of her gown, and smiled pleasantly at her husband.

Mr. Van Torp watched her with genuine admiration, and when she looked
at him and nodded her thanks again, he unconsciously smiled too, and
answered by a nod of approval.

The fair-haired foreign gentleman turned to his two ex-policemen with
considerable dignity.

'You have heard and seen,' he said impressively. 'I shall expect you
to remember all this when you are in the witness-box. Let us go.'
He made a sweeping bow to his wife and Mr. Van Torp. 'I wish you an
agreeable evening,' he said.

Thereupon he marched out of the room, followed by his men, who each
made an awkward bow at nothing in particular before going out. Mr. Van
Torp followed them at some distance towards the outer door, judging
that as they had forced their way in they could probably find their
way out. He did not even go to the outer threshold, for the last of
the three shut the door behind him.

When the millionaire came back Lady Maud was seated in the easy-chair,
leaning forward and looking thoughtfully into the fire. Assuredly no
one would have suspected from her composed face that anything unusual
had happened. She glanced at her friend when he came in, but did not
speak, and he began to walk up and down on the other side of the
table, with his hands behind him.

'You've got pretty good nerves,' he said presently.

'Yes,' answered Lady Maud, still watching the coals, 'they really are
rather good.'

A long silence followed, during which she did not move and Mr. Van
Torp steadily paced the floor.

'I didn't tell a fib, either,' she said at last. 'It's charity, in its
way.'

'Certainly,' assented her friend. 'What isn't either purchase-money or
interest, or taxes, or a bribe, or a loan, or a premium, or a present,
or blackmail, must be charity, because it must be something, and it
isn't anything else you can name.'

'A present may be a charity,' said Lady Maud, still thoughtful.

'Yes,' answered Mr. Van Torp. 'It may be, but it isn't always.'

He walked twice the length of the room before he spoke agai