you
doing here? Why do you call yourself Miss Vivien? Are you really
living next door to Tommy? And George--how on earth do you come to be
mixed up with George?"

"I'll tell you everything," she said, "only I must know all about you
first. Why were you following George? You don't mean to let him know
who you are? Oh, Neil, Neil, promise me that you won't do that."

"Joyce," I said slowly, "I want to find out who killed Seton Marks. I
don't suppose there is the least chance of my doing so, and if I can't
I most certainly mean to wring George's neck. That was chiefly what I
broke out of prison for."

"Yes, yes," she said feverishly, "but there _is_ a chance. You'll
understand when I've explained." She put her hands to her forehead.
"Oh, I hardly know where to begin."

"Begin anywhere," I said. "Tell me why you're pretending to be a
palmist."

She got up from my knee and, walking slowly to the table, seated
herself on the end.

"I wanted money," she said; "and I wanted to meet one or two people
who might be useful about you."

"But I left eight hundred pounds for you with Tommy," I exclaimed.
"You got that?"

She nodded. "It's in the bank now. I have been keeping it in case
anything happened. You don't suppose I was going to spend it? How
could I have helped you then even when I got the chance?"

"But, my dear Joyce," I protested, "the money was for you. And you
couldn't have helped me with it in any case. I had plenty more waiting
for me when my sentence was out."

"When your sentence was out," repeated Joyce fiercely. "Do you think
I was going to let you stop in prison till then!" She checked herself
with an effort. "I had better tell you everything from the beginning,"
she said. "I couldn't write any more to you, because I was only
allowed to send the two letters, and I knew both of them would be read
by somebody."

She paused a moment.

"I went away after the trial. I was very ill, and Tommy took me to a
little place called Looe, down in Cornwall. We stayed there nearly six
months. When I came back I took the flat next to him and called myself
Miss Vivien. I had made up my mind then what I was going to do. You
see there were only two possible ways in which I could help you. One
was to find out who killed Marks, and the other was to get you out of
prison--anyhow. Of course, after the trial, it seemed madness to think
about the first, but then I just had three things to go on. I knew
that you were innoc