ld," Bellamy continued. "I fetched her at
once and sent her back to her house with a hospital nurse and some
one to look after her. The wound wasn't serious, but the fellow
must have been a brute indeed to have lifted his hand against such
a child. I wonder whether he'll get away."

"I should doubt it," Laverick remarked. "He hasn't the nerve.
He'll probably get drunk and blow his brains out. He's a
broken-spirited cur, after all."

"You'll have some lunch?" Bellamy asked.

Laverick shook his head.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to go on and see Miss Leneveu."

"Put me down at the club, then, and take my car on, if you will."

Laverick walked up and down the pavement outside Zoe's little
house for nearly half-an-hour. He had found the door closed and
locked, and a neighbor had informed him that Miss Leneveu had
gone out in a cab with the nurse, some time ago, and had not
returned. Laverick sent Bellamy's car back and waited. Presently
a four-wheel cab came round the corner and stopped in front of
her house. Laverick opened the door and helped Zoe out. She was
as white as death, and the nurse who was with her was looking
anxious.

"You are safe, then?" she murmured, holding out her hands.

"Quite," he answered. "You dear little girl!"

Zoe had fainted, however, and Laverick hurried out for the doctor.
Curiously enough, it was the same man who only a week or so ago
had come to see Arthur Morrison.

"She has had a bad scalp wound," he declared, "and her nervous
system is very much run down. There is nothing serious. She
seems to have just escaped concussion. The nurse had better stay
with her for another day, at any rate."

"You are sure that it isn't serious?" Laverick asked eagerly.

"Not in the least," the doctor answered dryly. "I see worse
wounds every day of my life. I'll come again to-morrow, if you like,
but it really isn't necessary with the nurse on the spot."

His natural pessimism was for a moment lightened by the fee which
Laverick pressed upon him, and he departed with a few more
encouraging words. Laverick stayed and talked for a short time
with the nurse.

"She has gone off to sleep now, sir," the latter announced. "There
isn't anything to worry about. She seems as though she had been
having a hard time, though. There was scarcely a thing in the house
but half a packet of tea--and these."

She held up a packet of pawn tickets.

"I found these in a drawer when I cam