wn again for one moment." The colonel's voice was gentle but
insistent. "Do you know Maggie Delman?"

Suddenly Crotin's face went white.

"She was one of your father's mill-girls when you were little more than
a boy," the colonel proceeded, "and you were rather in love with her,
and one Easter you went away together to Blackpool. Do you remember?"

Still Crotin did not speak.

"You married the young lady and the marriage was kept secret because you
were afraid of your father, and as the years went on and the girl was
content with the little home you had made for her and the allowance you
gave her, there seemed to be no need to admit your marriage, especially
as there were no children. Then you began to take part in local politics
and to accumulate ambitions. You dared not divorce your wife and you
thought there was no necessity for it. You had a chance of improving
yourself socially by marrying the daughter of an English lord, and you
jumped at it."

"You've got to prove that," he said huskily.

The man found his voice.

"I can prove it all right. Oh, no, your wife hasn't betrayed you--your
real wife, I mean. You've betrayed yourself by insisting on paying her
by telegraphic money orders. We heard of these mysterious payments but
suspected nothing beyond a vulgar love affair. Then one night, whilst
your placid and complacent wife was in a cinema, one of my people
searched her box and came upon the certificate of marriage. Would you
like to see it?"

"I've nothing to say," said Crotin thickly. "You've got me, mister. So
that is how you do it!"

"That is how I do it," said the colonel. "I believe in being frank with
people like you. Here are the transfers. You see the place for your
signature marked with a pencil."

Suddenly Crotin leaped at him in a blind fury, but the colonel gripped
him by the throat with a hand like a steel vice, and shook him as a dog
would shake a rat. And the gentle tone in his voice changed as quickly.

"Sit down and sign!" snarled Boundary. "If you play that game, I'll
break your damned neck! Come any of those tricks with me and I'll smash
you. Give him the pen, Crewe."

"I'll see you in gaol for this," said the white-faced man shakily.

"That's about the place you will see me, if you don't sign, and it is
the inside of that gaol you'll be to see me."

The man rose up unsteadily, flinging down the pen as he did so.

"You'll suffer for this," he said between his teeth.

"Not un