dded. She got into the house through the servants' entrance and
up to her room without observation. She pulled off the black wig and
applied herself to removing the stains from her face. It had been a good
morning's work.

"You must keep Mrs. Meredith fully occupied to-day." She waylaid her
father on the stairs to give him these instructions.

For her it was a busy morning. First she went to the Hotel de Paris, and
on the pretext of writing a letter in the lounge, secured two or three
sheets of the hotel paper and an envelope. Next she hired a typewriter
and carried it with her back to the house. She was working for an hour
before she had the letter finished. The signature took her some time.
She had to ransack Lydia's writing case before she found a letter from
Jack Glover--Lydia's signature was easy in comparison.

This, and a cheque drawn from the back of Lydia Meredith's cheque-book,
completed her equipment.

That afternoon Mordon, the chauffeur, motored into Nice, and by nine
o'clock that night an aeroplane deposited him in Paris. He was in London
the following morning, a bearer of an urgent letter to Mr. Rennett, the
lawyer, which, however, he did not present in person.

Mordon knew a French girl in London, and she it was who carried the
letter to Charles Rennett--a letter that made him scratch his head many
times before he took a sheet of paper, and addressing the manager of
Lydia's bank, wrote:

"This cheque is in order. Please honour."

Chapter XXX

"Desperate diseases," said Jean Briggerland, "call for desperate
remedies."

Mr. Briggerland looked up from his book.

"What was that tale you were telling Lydia this morning," he asked,
"about Glover's gambling? He was only here a day, wasn't he?"

"He was here long enough to lose a lot of money," said Jean. "Of course
he didn't gamble, so he did not lose. It was just a little seed-sowing
on my part--one never knows how useful the right word may be in the
right season."

"Did you tell Lydia that he was losing heavily?" he asked quickly.

"Am I a fool? Of course not! I merely said that youth would be served,
and if you have the gambling instinct in you, why, it didn't matter what
position you held in society or what your responsibilities were, you
must indulge your passion."

Mr. Briggerland stroked his chin. There were times when Jean's schemes
got very far beyond him, and he hated the mental exercise of catching
up. The only thing he knew