'er friends goes over she excuses 'erself along o' the strain.
Strain--Gawd!" James ground his wrath short in his teeth.

"I'll tell you what I'll do, James, and it's our only hope. I'll see
Lady Ellen tomorrow. The _Times_ says she returned today. You take the
picture back to its place, and I'll do what I can for it. If anything is
done to save it, it must be done through Lady Ellen Treffinger herself,
that much is clear. I can't think that she fully understands the
situation. If she did, you know, she really couldn't have any motive--"
He stopped suddenly. Somehow, in the dusky lamplight, her small,
close-sealed face came ominously back to him. He rubbed his forehead
and knitted his brows thoughtfully. After a moment he shook his head
and went on: "I am positive that nothing can be gained by highhanded
methods, James. Captain Gresham is one of the most popular men in
London, and his friends would tear up Treffinger's bones if he were
annoyed by any scandal of our making--and this scheme you propose would
inevitably result in scandal. Lady Ellen has, of course, every legal
right to sell the picture. Treffinger made considerable inroads upon
her estate, and, as she is about to marry a man without income, she
doubtless feels that she has a right to replenish her patrimony."

He found James amenable, though doggedly skeptical. He went down into
the street, called a carriage, and saw James and his burden into it.
Standing in the doorway, he watched the carriage roll away through
the drizzling mist, weave in and out among the wet, black vehicles and
darting cab lights, until it was swallowed up in the glare and confusion
of the Strand. "It is rather a fine touch of irony," he reflected,
"that he, who is so out of it, should be the one to really care. Poor
Treffinger," he murmured as, with a rather spiritless smile, he turned
back into his hotel. "Poor Treffinger; _sic transit gloria_."

The next afternoon MacMaster kept his promise. When he arrived at Lady
Mary Percy's house he saw preparations for a function of some sort, but
he went resolutely up the steps, telling the footman that his business
was urgent. Lady Ellen came down alone, excusing her sister. She was
dressed for receiving, and MacMaster had never seen one so beautiful.
The color in her cheeks sent a softening glow over her small, delicately
cut features.

MacMaster apologized for his intrusion and came unflinchingly to the
object of his call. He had come, h