inquiries?'

'They have been to the office of the Company. Everything is upside down.
They say Hilary isn't to be found.'

'Who can have written such a letter?'

'How do I know? I have enemies enough, no doubt. Who hasn't that makes
himself a leader?'

There was the wrong note again. It discouraged her; she was silent.

'Look here, Adela,' he said, 'do you believe this?'

'Believe it!'

'Do you think I'm capable of doing a thing like that--scraping together
by pennies the money of the poorest of the poor just to use it for my
own purposes--could I do that?'

'You know I do not believe it.'

'But you don't speak as if you were certain. There's something--But how
am I to prove I'm innocent? How can I make people believe I wasn't in
the plot? They've only my word--who'll think that enough? Anyone can
tell a lie and stick to it, if there's no positive proof against him.
How am I to make _you_ believe that I was taken in?'

'But I tell you that a doubt of your innocence does not enter my mind.
If it were necessary, I would stand up in public before all who accused
you and declare that they were wrong. I do not need your assurance. I
recognise that it would be impossible for you to commit such a crime.'

'Well, it does me good to hear you say that,' he replied, with light of
hope in his eyes. 'I wanted to feel sure of that. You might have thought
that'--he sank his voice--'that because I could think of destroying that
will--'

'Don't speak of that!' she interrupted, with a gesture of pain. 'I say
that I believe you. It is enough. Don't speak about me any more. Think
of what has to be done.'

'I have promised to be in Clerkenwell at eight o'clock. There'll be
a meeting. I shall do my best to show that I am innocent. You'll look
after Alice? It's awful to have to leave her whilst she's like that.'

'Trust me. I will not leave her side for a moment. The doctor will be
here again to-night.'

A thought struck him.

'Send out the girl for an evening paper. There may be something in it.'

The paper was obtained. One of the first headings his eye fell upon was:
'Rumoured Collapse of a Public Company. Disappearance of the Secretary.'
He showed it to Adela, and they read together. She saw that the finger
with which he followed the lines quivered like a leaf. It was announced
in a brief paragraph that the Secretary of the Irish Dairy Company
was missing: that he seemed to have gone off with considerable sums.
More