elf-possessed, negative,
wholly without the embarrassment of one performing an unusual action.
Her companion felt the awakening of curiosity. Zealously though she had,
to all appearance, endeavoured to conceal the fact, she was without a
doubt personable. Her voice and manner lacked nothing of refinement. Yet
her attraction to Francis Ledsam, who, although a perfectly normal human
being, was no seeker after promiscuous adventures, did not lie in these
externals. As a barrister whose success at the criminal bar had been
phenomenal, he had attained to a certain knowledge of human nature. He
was able, at any rate, to realise that this woman was no imposter. He
knew that she had vital things to say.

They passed into the tea-shop and found an empty corner. Ledsam hung up
his hat and gave an order. The woman slowly began to remove her gloves.
When she pushed back her veil, her vis-a-vis received almost a shock.
She was quite as good-looking as he had imagined, but she was far
younger--she was indeed little more than a girl. Her eyes were of a deep
shade of hazel brown, her eyebrows were delicately marked, her features
and poise admirable. Yet her skin was entirely colourless. She was as
pale as one whose eyes have been closed in death. Her lips, although
in no way highly coloured, were like streaks of scarlet blossom upon
a marble image. The contrast between her appearance and that of her
companion was curiously marked. Francis Ledsam conformed in no way to
the accepted physical type of his profession. He was over six feet in
height, broad-shouldered and powerfully made. His features were cast in
a large mould, he was of fair, almost sandy complexion, even his mouth
was more humourous than incisive. His eyes alone, grey and exceedingly
magnetic, suggested the gifts which without a doubt lay behind his
massive forehead.

"I am anxious to avoid any possible mistake," she began. "Your name is
Francis Ledsam?"

"It is," he admitted.

"You are the very successful criminal barrister," she continued, "who
has just been paid an extravagant fee to defend Oliver Hilditch."

"I might take exception to the term 'extravagant'," Ledsam observed
drily. "Otherwise, your information appears to be singularly correct.
I do not know whether you have heard the verdict. If not, you may be
interested to know that I succeeded in obtaining the man's acquittal."

"I know that you did," the woman replied. "I was in the Court when the
verdict wa