say?" cut in Rankin, "a drop of gin and soda wouldn't hurt
us, eh?" Then while they moved round to the Exchange bar, he went on;
"I've got a thing that would suit you to a hair, Stanninghame. I'd take
it up myself if I could, but I'm only an agent in the matter."

"Shares, eh?"

"Yes--Skinner and Sacks."

"Dead off. See here, Rankin--you must off-load them on somebody else. If
I were next door to certain of making half a million out of it, even
then I wouldn't touch any sort of investment connected with this place.
No, not to save my immortal soul--if I've got one, which at times seems
doubtful." And there was something in Laurence's laugh--evoked by old
time recollections--which convinced the other that no business was to be
done in this quarter at any rate.

There was method in the way in which Laurence had sought to dawdle away
the morning. He had arrived late the night before, and as yet had made
no inquiries. How strange it all seemed! Surely it was but yesterday
that he was here last. Surely he had slept, and had dreamed the
portentous events which had intervened. They could not have been real.
But the stones--the great diamonds--they were real enough; the metal box
too--the "Sign of the Spider."

How was he thus transformed? Later in the day, as he stood on the
_stoep_ knocking at the door of Mrs. Falkner's house, he was conscious
that his heart hardly beat quicker, that his pulses were as firm and
even as ever. Four years of a hard, stern schooling had done it.

Yes, Mrs. Falkner was at home. He was ushered into the drawing room,
which was empty. There was the same ever-clinging scent of roses, the
same knick-knacks, the same lounge on which they had sat together that
night. Even the battery stamps across the kloof seemed to hammer out the
same refrain.

The door opened. Was it Lilith herself? No, only Lilith's aunt.

"Why, Mr. Stanninghame, I am glad to see you. But--how you have
changed!"

"Well, yes, Mrs. Falkner. Time has knocked me about some. I can't say
the same as regards yourself, though. You haven't changed an atom."

She laughed. "That can't be true. I'm sure I feel more and more of an
old woman every day. But sit down, do, and tell me about your
adventures. Have you had a successful trip?"

"Pretty well. It has proved a more paying concern, at any rate, than
the exhilarating occupation known as 'waiting for the boom.'"

"I am very glad to hear that. And your friends--have you all retur