ck to the King's Bench Walk the Honourable John Ruffin
pondered this matter of salary and came to the conclusion that five
pounds would not be too high a fee for the duchess to pay for skilled
work of this kind. He must remember to tell Eglantine to tell her to
give Pollyooly that sum.

Pollyooly was rather earlier than he had expected: at five and twenty
minutes to five he heard her latchkey in the lock of his outer door,
and when it opened he called to her to come to him.

She entered leading the Lump. His red hair was a rather brighter red
than the hair of Pollyooly; but his eyes were of the same deep blue and
his clear skin of the same paleness. They would have made a charming
picture of Cupid led by an angel child.

"Ah, Pollyooly!" said the Honourable John Ruffin cheerfully. "You are
about to realise the truth of those immortal lines:

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive!"

"Please, sir, I haven't been deceiving any one," said Pollyooly,
knitting her brow in a faint anxiety.

"Not recently, perhaps. But you have deceived. You deceived the Duke
of Osterley by taking the place of his daughter."

"Oh, him?" said Pollyooly in a very care-free tone; and her face grew
serene.

"You don't seem to feel it much," said the Honourable John Ruffin
sadly. "But now you are called on to deceive lawyers and detectives."

"Am I to be Lady Marion again?" said Pollyooly quickly.

"You are, indeed," said the Honourable John Ruffin.

"And shall I be paid again for doing it?"

Her angel face flushed, and her blue eyes danced.

"Certainly you will be paid. I am going to tell Eglantine, the
duchess's maid, to see to it. She's coming for you, and you haven't
any time to lose. She's going to take you down to Devonshire by the
train which leaves Paddington at six," said the Honourable John Ruffin.

"Then I'd better take the Lump round to Mrs. Brown at once," said
Pollyooly; and her eyes sparkled and danced.

"You had," said the Honourable John Ruffin. "It's only for a couple of
nights at the outside, tell her."

"And that's quite as long as I like to leave him," she said in a tone
of complete satisfaction; and she ran briskly up-stairs to their attic
for the Lump's sleeping-suit.

She was not long taking him to Mrs. Brown, who lived in the little
slum, the last remnant of Alsatia, behind the King's Bench Walk; and
she welcomed him warmly. Pollyooly and he had lodged with