hing to do with me."

"Well," said Saton, "I only went in for a joke. I'll try one of the
others. There's a wonderful lady in Oxford Street somewhere, they tell
me, with the biggest black eyes in London. Good day, sir!"

Saton walked off, and entered a neighboring tea-shop. From there he
telephoned to Violet, who a few minutes later appeared.

"Sit down and have some tea," he said. "I want to talk to you."

"It's almost time, isn't it?" she asked, reproachfully.

"Never mind about that just now," he said. "You can guess a little how
things are. Those questions in the House upset the Home Secretary, and
I am quite convinced that they have made up their minds at Scotland
Yard to go for us. You are sure that you have been careful?"

"Absolutely," she answered. "I have not once, to man or woman,
pretended to tell their fortune. I tell them that the whole thing is a
joke; that I will look into the crystal for them if they wish it, or
read their hands, but I do not profess to tell their fortunes. What I
see I will tell them. It may interest them or it may not. If it does,
I ask them to give me something as a present. Of course, I see that
they always do that. But you are quite right, Bertrand. Every one of
our shows is being watched. Besides that fellow this afternoon I had
two detectives yesterday, and a woman whom I am doubtful about, who
keeps on coming."

"Three weeks longer," Saton remarked, half to himself. "Perhaps it
isn't worth while. Perhaps it would be better to close up now."

"Only three weeks?" Violet asked eagerly. "Bertrand, what are you
going to do then? What is going to become of me?"

Saton patted her on the hand.

"I will tell you a little later on," he said. "Everything will be
arranged all right. The only thing I am wondering about is whether it
wouldn't be better to close up at once."

"They've got a big piece of business on at the office," she remarked.

Saton frowned.

"I know it," he answered. "It's a dangerous piece of business, too.
It's blackmail, pure and simple. I wonder Huntley dare tackle it. It
might mean five years' penal servitude for him."

"He'd give you away before he went to penal servitude," Violet
remarked. "You may make yourself jolly sure of that."

Saton passed his hand across his forehead.

"Phew!" he said. "How stuffy this place is! Violet, I wish you'd go
round to Huntley, and talk to him. Of course, he gets a big percentage
on the returns, and that makes him