olded together in four. Without separating them she
glanced carelessly at the first, which was for a hundred pounds, and
then counted the others by the edges. She counted four after the
first, and Mr. Van Torp watched her face with evident amusement.

'You need more than that, don't you?' he asked, when she had finished.

'A little more, perhaps,' she said quietly, though she could not quite
conceal her disappointment, as she folded the notes and slipped them
into the envelope again. 'But I shall try to make this last. Thank you
very much.'

'I like you,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'You're the real thing. They'd call
you a chief's daughter in the South Seas. But I'm not so mean as all
that. I only thought you might need a little cash at once. That's
all.'

A loud knocking at the outer door prevented the lady from answering.

She looked at Mr. Van Torp in surprise.

'What's that?' she asked, rather anxiously.

'I don't know,' he answered. 'He couldn't guess that you were here,
could he?'

'Oh no! That's quite out of the question!'

'Then I'll open the door,' said the millionaire, and he left the
sitting-room.

The lady had not risen, and she still leaned back in her seat. She
idly tapped the knuckles of her gloved hand with the small envelope.

The knocking was repeated, she heard the outer door opened, and the
sound of voices followed directly.

'Oh!' Mr. Van Torp exclaimed in a tone of contemptuous surprise, 'it's
you, is it? Well, I'm busy just now. I can't see you till to-morrow.'

'My business will not keep till to-morrow,' answered an oily voice in
a slightly foreign accent.

At the very first syllables the lady rose quickly to her feet, and
resting one hand on the table she leant forward in the direction of
the door, with an expression that was at once eager and anxious, and
yet quite fearless.

'What you call your business is going to wait my convenience,' said
Mr. Van Torp. 'You'll find me here to-morrow morning until eleven
o'clock.'

From the sounds the lady judged that the American now attempted to
shut the door in his visitor's face, but that he was hindered and that
a scuffle followed.

'Hold him!' cried the oily voice in a tone of command. 'Bring him in!
Lock the door!'

It was clear enough that the visitor had not come alone, and that Mr.
Van Torp had been overpowered. The lady bit her salmon-coloured lip
angrily and contemptuously.

A moment later a tall heavily-built man with thick fai