er. You can
see they're up to some mischief."

"I am afraid they are, Tommy," I said; "and it strikes me that it must
be fairly useful mischief if we're right about Mr. Bruce Latimer. By
the way, does Joyce know?"

Tommy nodded. "She's right up to date: I've told her everything. The
question is, how much has that affair got to do with us? It's quite
possible, if they're the sort of scoundrels they seem to be, that they
might be up against the Secret Service in some way quite apart from
their dealings with you."

"By Jove, Tommy!" I exclaimed, "I never thought of that. One's
inclined to get a bit egotistical when one's an escaped murderer."

"It was Joyce's idea," admitted Tommy modestly, "but it's quite likely
there's something in it. Of course we've no proof at present one
way or the other. What do you think this girl--what's her
name--Sonia--means to do?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Goodness knows," I said. "It looks as if
there was a chance of making a big immediate profit on my invention,
and that she intended me to scoop it in instead of her father and
McMurtrie. I can't think of anything else."

Tommy pulled up a fresh plate and helped himself to some cheese.

"She must be pretty keen on you," he observed.

"Well, you needn't rub it in, Tommy," I said. "I feel quite enough of
a cad as it is."

"You're not," interrupted Joyce indignantly. "If she really loves you,
of course she wants to help you whether you love her or not."

"Still, she'll expect a _quid pro quo_," persisted Tommy.

"Then it isn't love," returned Joyce scornfully, "and in that case
there's no need to bother about her."

This seemed a most logical point of view, and I determined to adopt it
for the future if my conscience would allow me.

"What about your invention?" asked Tommy. "How long will it take you
to work it out?"

"Well, as a matter of fact," I said, "it is worked out--as much as any
invention can be without being put to a practical test. I was just on
that when the smash came. I had actually made some of the powder and
proved its power, but I'd never tried it on what one might call a
working basis. If they've given me all the things I want, I don't see
any reason why I shouldn't fix it up in two or three days. There's
no real difficulty in its manufacture. I wasn't too definite with
McMurtrie. I thought it best to give myself a little margin."

Tommy nodded. "You've handled the whole thing splendidly up till
now," he s