wer."

Selwood watched Peggie curiously, and with a strange, vague sense of
uneasiness as she went over to a drawer in Jacob Herapath's desk and
produced the card. He had noticed a slight tremor in her voice when she
spoke of Burchill, and her face, up till then very pale, had coloured at
the first mention of his name. And now he was asking himself why any
reference to this man seemed to disturb her, why----

But Mr. Halfpenny cut in on his meditations. The old lawyer held up the
card to the light and slowly read out the address.

"Ah! Calengrove Mansions, Maida Vale," he said. "Um--quarter of an
hour's drive. Tertius--you and I will go and see this young fellow at
once."

Mr. Tertius turned to Professor Cox-Raythwaite.

"What do you think of this, Cox-Raythwaite?" he asked, almost piteously.
"I mean--what do you think's best to be done?"

The Professor, who had stood apart with Selwood during the episode which
had just concluded, pulling his great beard and looking very big and
black and formidable, jerked his thumb in the direction of the old
lawyer.

"Do what Halfpenny says," he growled. "See this other witness. And--but
here, I'll have a word with you in the hall."

He said good-bye in a gruffly affectionate way to Peggie, patted her
shoulder and her head as if she were a child, and followed the two other
men out. Peggie, left alone with Selwood, turned to him. There was
something half-appealing in her face, and Selwood suddenly drove his
hands deep into his pockets, clenched them there, and put a tight hold
on himself.

"It's all different!" exclaimed Peggie, dropping into a chair and
clasping her hands on her knees. "All so different! And I feel so
utterly helpless."

"Scarcely that," said Selwood, with an effort to speak calmly. "You've
got Mr. Tertius, and Mr. Halfpenny, and the Professor, and--and if
there's anything--anything I can do, don't you know, why, I----"

Peggie impulsively stretched out a hand--and Selwood, not trusting
himself, affected not to see it. To take Peggie's hand at that moment
would have been to let loose a flood of words which he was resolved not
to utter just then, if ever. He moved across to the desk and pretended
to sort and arrange some loose papers.

"We'll--all--all--do everything we can," he said, trying to keep any
tremor out of his voice. "Everything you know, of course."

"I know--and I'm grateful," said Peggie. "But I'm frightened."

Selwood turned quickly an