probably have travelled all night and have left you stranded in some
un-get-at-able place. I don't think he meant any harm--they never take
unnecessary risks, and all they wanted was to spirit you away for the
night. How they came to know that we had chosen you baffles me," he
said. "Can you advance any theory, Rennett?"

"Chosen me?" repeated the startled girl. "Really, I feel I'm entitled to
some explanation, and if you don't mind, I would like you to take me
back to my office. I have a job to keep," she added grimly.

"Six pounds ten a week, and a few guineas extra for your illustrations,"
said the man in the raincoat. "Believe me, Miss Beale, you'll never pay
off your debts on that salary, not if you live to be a hundred."

She could only gasp.

"You seem to know a great deal about my private affairs," she said, when
she had recovered her breath.

"A great deal more than you can imagine."

She guessed he was smiling in the darkness, and his voice was so gentle
and apologetic that she could not take offence.

"In the past twelve months you have had thirty-nine judgments recorded
against you, and in the previous year, twenty-seven. You are living on
exactly thirty shillings a week, and all the rest is going to your
father's creditors."

"You're very impertinent!" she said hotly and, as she felt, foolishly.

"I'm very pertinent, really. By the way, my name is Glover--John Glover,
of the firm of Rennett, Glover and Simpson. The gentleman at your side
is Mr. Charles Rennett, my senior partner. We are a firm of solicitors,
but how long we shall remain a firm," he added pointedly, "depends
rather upon you."

"Upon me?" said the girl in genuine astonishment. "Well, I can't say
that I have so much love for lawyers----"

"That I can well understand," murmured Mr. Glover.

"But I certainly do not wish to dissolve your partnership," she went on.

"It is rather more serious than that," said Mr. Rennett, who was sitting
by her side. "The fact is, Miss Beale, we are acting in a perfectly
illegal manner, and we are going to reveal to you the particulars of an
act we contemplate, which, if you pass on the information to the police,
will result in our professional ruin. So you see this adventure is
infinitely more important to us than at present it is to you. And here
we are!" he said, interrupting the girl's question.

The car turned into a narrow drive, and proceeded some distance through
an avenue of trees before