cond lot
of people, as an actress to whom the necklace--a present--was worth
little compared with the value in cash; and they had believed her story.
But naturally it was soon proved to be false; and at first matters were
at a deadlock. Well, the police were called in; and by dint of many
inquiries among taxi-drivers, the girl was finally traced to the
money-lender's office in Holborn. He, of course, was as close as the
grave; but one of his clerks was bribed into giving the lady's name; and
everything was easy after that."

"Oh, poor girl!" Toni's soft heart felt a great compassion for the
frightened wife.

"At first, of course, she denied everything. Unfortunately, Lord Thirsk,
the father of the girl she had impersonated, took up a very violent
attitude and demanded the utmost restitution; and since so many people
were in the secret it was absolutely impossible to hush it up. I did my
best; I offered everything I had in the world if they would let the
matter drop without a prosecution, but it was useless. The thing had to
go to court, and there was a big excitement over the case."

"And----"

"Oh, the result was a foregone conclusion. In spite of everything, in
spite of her denials, her terrified lies, her vain attempts to clear
herself by"--he hesitated--"by implicating me, the case against her was
as clear as the day. I tried my hardest--I perjured myself to try to
clear her of the worst guilt--I strove my best to make her out my tool,
but it wasn't any good. The Counsel on the other side simply turned me
inside out in two minutes. In spite of all my efforts I couldn't
convince him I'd had a hand in it--and of course my absence from town
showed the truth pretty plainly. Well, Eva spoke out, in the end."

Ho set his lips as he thought of the miserable girl's confession,
following on hours of mental torture at the hands of the prosecuting
Counsel.

"In the end I think it was a relief to her to speak the truth. After
seeing all her lies, all the pitiful, sordid little lies, torn to
pieces, after hearing all the weight of evidence against her, seeing the
net close in on her--on one helpless, terrified little girl--she gave in
and begged desperately for mercy. She seemed to think if she told the
truth--at last--they would pardon her, let her off, and she poured out
the whole story and cried out for forgiveness. She couldn't believe they
would send her to prison...."

His brow was wet with the reminiscent agony o