ol and told Sir Henry, it would mean ruin for
us, and that would also mean----"

"It would mean exposure for Gabrielle," interrupted Flockart. "The old
man dare not lift his voice for his daughter's sake."

"Ah," exclaimed Krail, "that's just where you've acted injudiciously!
You've set him against her; therefore he wouldn't spare her."

"It was imperative. I couldn't afford to be found prying into the old
man's papers, could I? I got impressions of his key while walking in the
park one day. He's never suspected it."

"Of course not. He believes in you," laughed his friend, "as one of the
few upright men who are his friends! But," he added, "you've done wrong,
my dear fellow, to trust a woman with a secret. Depend upon it, her
ladyship will let you down."

"Well, if she does," remarked Flockart, with a shrug of the shoulders,
"she'll have to suffer with me. You know where we should all find
ourselves."

The man pulled a wry face and puffed at his cigarette in silence.

"What does the girl do?" asked Flockart a few moments later.

"Well, she seems to have a pretty dull time with the old lady. I stayed
at the 'Cardigan Arms' at Woodnewton for two days--a miserable little
place--and watched her pretty closely. She's out a good deal, rambling
alone across the country with a collie belonging to a neighbouring
farmer. She's the very picture of sadness, poor little girl!"

"You seem to sympathise with her, Krail. Why, does she not stand between
us and fortune?"

"She'll stand between us and a court of assize if that woman acts the
fool!" declared the shabby stranger, who moved so rapidly and whose
vigilance seemed unequalled.

"If we go, she shall go also," Flockart declared in a threatening voice.

"But you must prevent such a _contretemps_," Krail urged.

"Ah, it's all very well to talk like that! But you know enough of her
ladyship to be aware that she acts on her own initiative."

"That shows that she's no fool," remarked the foreigner quickly. "You
who hold her in the hollow of your hand must prevent her from opening up
to her husband. The whole future lies with you."

"And what is the future without money? We want a few thousands for
immediate necessities, both of us. The woman's allowance from her
husband is nowadays a mere bagatelle."

"Because he probably knows that some of her money has gone into your
pockets, my dear boy."

"No; he's completely in ignorance of that. How, indeed, could he know?
S