t does it matter whether he finds me or not? And what
are we to do with Powers?"

"Leave him to me. I'll get him back to his own house." I had it in my
mind that I could call Lacey to help me to carry him.

While I spoke, she was giving the man another drink. He gurgled in his
throat and moved uneasily. She looked up again: "He's doing all right,
but--hadn't Leonard better go?"

"Nonsense," said Octon. "I'm here to see it through."

"No, no," I said hastily. "She's right, you go. This may be a police
matter, if he takes it that way--or if Fillingford comes and finds him.
If you're here, you may be arrested. Then everything's got to come out!
For her sake you ought to go."

"You must go, Leonard," said Jenny. She propped Powers's head on a
footstool and rose to her feet.

"It would be the best thing," said Octon. "It's only to-night instead of
to-morrow morning."

His decision was taken. He lingered only one minute. He held out both
his hands to her, and she put hers in them. I looked away; by chance my
eyes fell on the mantelpiece. It struck me differently somehow; in an
instant it occurred to me that the picture of the beautiful young girl
was not there.

"There's a fast train to London at 8.15. You can catch that," I said.
"And you'd better go abroad to-morrow. I can let you know what happens."

"Wire as soon as you can--Grand Hotel to-night--to-morrow, the
Continental, Paris. Write to-morrow, and send my portmanteau; I'll take
my bag. I shall come back if there's any trouble."

"No, no, you mustn't," said Jenny.

"Well, we'll see about that presently. Good-by."

I watched him go into the hall and take up his bag; then I came back to
Jenny.

"Now come away," I said, quickly. "You don't want to meet Fillingford,
and he may be here any minute. I'll see you safe on the road, then I'll
come back to this fellow. We can hush it all up--it's only a matter of
enough money."

I heard the wheels of a carriage in the road. Jenny held up her hand for
silence. We listened a moment. The carriage stopped at the gate of
Hatcham Ford. It was Fillingford--Would he meet Octon? I feared that
Octon would take no pains to avoid him.

In that I was wrong. The situation had sobered him. He had seen where
lay the best chance for Jenny, and he would not throw it away. When the
carriage drove up, he was just by the gate of Ivydene--Lacey, hidden in
the shrubberies, saw him there. He drew back into the shadow of the gate
and