as his
secretary and assist him in his search for Marguerite. What he did not
know was that Crawley's alleged daughter, whom he had not seen, was the
girl for whom he was seeking. I fell into the new life, and found John
Minute--I can scarcely call him 'father'--much more bearable than I
expected--and then one day I found my mother."

"You found your mother?" said Saul Arthur Mann, a light dawning upon
him.

"Your persistent search of the little house in Silvers Rents produced
nothing," he smiled. "Had you taken the bamboo ladder and crossed the
yard at the back of the house into another yard, then through the door,
you would have come to Number 16 Royston Court, and you would have been
considerably surprised to find an interior much more luxurious than you
would have expected in that quarter. In Royston Court they spoke of
Number 16 as 'the house with the nurses' because there were always three
nurses on duty, and nobody ever saw the inside of the house but
themselves. There you would have found my mother, bedridden, and,
indeed, so ill that the doctors who saw her would not allow her to be
moved from the house.

"I furnished this hovel piece by piece, generally at night, because I
did not want to excite the curiosity of the people in the court, nor
did I wish this matter to reach the ears of John Minute. I felt that
while I retained his friendship and his confidence there was at least a
chance of his reconciliation with my mother, and that, before all
things, she desired. It was not to be," he said sadly. "John Minute was
struck down at the moment my plans seemed as though they were going to
result in complete success. Strangely enough, with his death, my mother
made an extraordinary recovery, and I was able to move her to the
Continent. She had always wanted to see Holland, France, and at this
moment"--he turned to the girl with a smile--"she is in the chalet which
you occupied during your holiday."

Mr. Mann was dumfounded. All his pet theories had gone by the board.

"But what of your sister?" he asked at last.

A black look gathered in Jasper Cole's face.

"My sister's whereabouts are known to me now," he said shortly. "For
some time she lived in Camden Town, at Number 69 Flowerton Road. At the
present moment she is nearer and is watched night and day, almost as
carefully as Mr. Mann's agents are watching you." He smiled again at the
girl.

"Watching me?" she said, startled.

Saul Arthur Mann went red.