may be here, some part of your time, I
imagine, will be spent in his company. Let me know what manner of man he
is. Is this innate corruptness which brings him so easily to the bait, or
is it the stinging smart of injustice from which he may well be
suffering? Or, failing these, has he dared to set his wits against mine,
to play the double traitor? If even a suspicion of this should come to
you, there must be an end of Mr. Francis Norgate."

Anna toyed for a moment with the rose at her bosom. Her eyes were looking
out of the room. Once again she was conscious of a curious slackening of
purpose, a confusion of issues which had once seemed to her so clear.

"Very well," she promised. "I will send you a report in the course of a
few days."

"I should not," Selingman continued, rising, "venture to trouble you,
Baroness, as I know the sphere of your activities is far removed from
mine, but chance has put you in the position of being able to ascertain
definitely the things which I desire to know. For our common sake you
will, I am sure, seek to discover the truth."

"So far as I can, certainly," Anna replied, "but I must admit that I,
like you, find Mr. Norgate a little incomprehensible."

"There are men," Selingman declared, "there have been many of the
strongest men in history, impenetrable to the world, who have yielded
their secrets readily to a woman's influence. The diplomatists in life
who have failed have been those who have underrated the powers possessed
by your wonderful sex."

"Among whom," Anna remarked, "no one will ever number Herr Selingman."

"Dear Baroness," Selingman concluded, as the maid whom Anna had summoned
stood ready to show him out, "it is because in my life I have been
brought into contact with so many charming examples of your power."

* * * * *

Once more silence and solitude. Anna moved restlessly about on her couch.
Her eyes were a little hot. That future into which she looked seemed to
become more than ever a tangled web. At half-past seven her maid
reappeared.

"Madame will dress for dinner?"

Anna swung herself to her feet. She glanced at the clock.

"I suppose so," she assented.

"I have three gowns laid out," the maid continued respectfully. "Madame
would look wonderful in the light green."

"Anything," Anna yawned.

The telephone bell tinkled. Anna took down the receiver herself.

"Yes?" she asked.

Her manner suddenly changed. It was a