ou've got more sense than I have, by a long chalk! I should
never have thought of the maid being in the room. Clever Fan! Now,
you'll put the key on the sill--when? Say ten o'clock. And you'll see,
Fan, that the little window on the back staircase isn't locked, and
keep at watch for us?"

"No, no!" she panted. "I will not! I cannot! I--I should faint! Don't
ask me, Ted; don't--don't, dear! I shall say 'I'm ill'--and I shall
be--and go to bed!"

"Not you!" he said, cheerfully and confidentially. "You'll just hang
about the landing and keep watch for us; and if there's any one there to
spoil our game, you'll go to the window and say, just loud enough for us
to hear: 'What a fine night!'"

She hid her face on his breast, struggling with her sobs.

"Why, what is there to be afraid of!" he said. "If all's clear we shall
have the things in a jiffy, and if it isn't we shall take our hook as
quietly as we came, and no one will be the wiser. Should you like
Boulogne, Fan, or should you like Brussels? We could be married directly
we got on the other side. Boulogne's not half a bad place, and you'd
look rather a swell at the Casino."

It was the irresistible argument again. She raised her head.

"You--you will go quietly; there will be no--no violence, Ted?"

"Is it likely?"

She shuddered.

"There--there was in that case at Berkeley Square, Ted!" and she
shuddered again.

His face darkened.

"That was an accident. The gentleman was an obstinate old fool. But
there's no fear of anything of that kind in this affair. I tell you we
shall not be in the house more than five minutes, and if we're seen it
won't matter. I'm in decent togs, and my pal is the model of a curate.
Any one seeing us would think we were visitors in the house. You shall
have a regular wedding dress, Fan. White satin and lace--real lace, mind
you! Come, give us a kiss to say that it's done with, Fan!"

He took her face in his hands and kissed her, and with a choking sob she
clung to him for a moment as if she could not tear herself away. But,
having got what he wanted, the man was anxious to be off.

"Ten o'clock, mind, Fan! And a sharp lookout. There, let me put your
shawl round your head. I'll wait here till I hear you're out of the
wood."

But he remained only a moment or two after she had left him, and, with
quick, light steps, he joined his confederate.

"It's all right," he said, as he got into the dogcart. "I've found out
what I wanted.