count upon your help?"

"Why, most certainly, Lady Blackadder."

"Lady Black--" She was looking at me very keenly, and, as I thought,
was much startled and surprised. Then with a conscious blush she went
on. "Of course, I might have guessed you would penetrate my disguise,
but you must not call me Lady Blackadder. I can lay no claim to the
title."

"May I be forgiven if I trench on such a delicate subject, and assure
you of my most sincere sympathy? Everybody felt for you deeply. I
hope you will believe that I am, and ever shall be, at your orders and
devoted to your service."

"Yes, yes, I am sure of it; I know I can depend upon you fully, and I
mean to do so now at once. You know, you have heard, that Lord
Blackadder is here, and actually in this hotel?"

"I came with him. I was watching that fellow, the detective Falfani,
when his lordship came upon the scene. We had words, a quarrel, almost
a fight."

"Pfu! He would not fight! I only wish you had thrashed him as he
deserves. But that won't help matters now. How am I to escape him?"

"With the child?"

"To be sure. Of course, I do not fear him in the least for myself."

"You want to keep the child?"

"Naturally, as I carried it off."

"And still more because you had the best right to it, whatever the
Court might direct. You are its mother."

Again she blushed and smiled, rather comically. "I certainly shall not
surrender it to Lord Blackadder, not without a struggle. Yet he is
very near getting it now."

"In there?" I nodded towards the next room. "It is a close thing. How
are you to manage it?"

"There would not have been the slightest difficulty; it was all but
done, and then some one, something, failed me. I expected too much
perhaps, but I have been bitterly disappointed, and the danger has
revived."

"Come, come, Lady Blackadder, keep up your courage. Let us take
counsel together. We can surely devise some fresh plan. Don't give way
now; you have been so plucky all through. Be brave still."

"Thank you, Colonel Annesley, I will." She put out her hand with
enchanting frankness, her fine eyes shining gratefully. A man would
have dared much, endured much, to win such gracious approval.

"It is getting late, but you must hear all I have to tell before we
can decide upon the next step. Will you listen to me? I shall not bore
you. It is a long story. First let me clear the ground a little. I
must disabuse your mind on one point. I am not Lady B