f
moonlight here and there from an interstice in the curtains alone
touched her as she passed. At one window she stopped, and softly lifted
the blind. She looked out and was satisfied.

"Thought so!" she murmured, with a little vindictive smile. Just beneath
her was that long window of the library which Joan had been at such
pains to arrange.

Jenny stationed herself by the window. The night was very still. She
could hear the voices of the servants in the dining-room round the angle
of the house, and see the light from its windows lying in frames upon
the grass. Then the light went out, and silence fell.

From time to time the hum of a motor-car swelled and diminished to its
last faint vibrations on the distant road; and as each car passed Jenny
stiffened at her post. She looked at her watch, turning the dial to the
moonlight. It was ten minutes past nine now. The cars had left Rackham
Park well before nine. She would not have long to wait now! As she
slipped her watch again into her waistband she drew back with an
instinctive movement, although the window at which she stood had been
this last half-hour in shadow. For under a great copper beech on the
grass in front of her a man was standing. The sight of him was a shock
to her.

She wondered how he had come, how long he had been there--and why? Some
explanation flashed upon her.

"My goodness me!" she whispered. "You could knock me down with a
hairpin. So you could!"

Whilst she watched that solitary figure beneath the tree, another motor
whizzed along the road. The noise of its engine grew louder--surely
louder than any which, standing at this window, she had heard before.
Had it turned into the park? off the main road. Was it coming to the
house? Before Jenny could answer these questions in her mind, the noise
ceased altogether. Jenny held her breath; and round the angle of the
house a girl came running swiftly, her skirt sparkling like silver in
the moonlight, and a white cloak drawn about her shoulders. She drew
open the window of the library and passed in. A few seconds passed.
Jenny imagined her stealthily opening the door into the hall, and
listening to make sure that the servants were in their own quarters and
this part of the house deserted. Then the girl reappeared at the window
and made a sign. From beneath the tree the man ran across the grass. His
face was turned towards Jenny, and the moonlight revealed it. The man
was Mario Escobar.

Jenny drew