y
rude to me because I could not. Have you ever heard the name of Meysey
Hill?"

"Meysey Hill?" He repeated it after her, and she knew at once from his
tone and his quick glance into her face that the name possessed some
significance for him.

"Yes, I have heard of him, and I know him by sight," he admitted. "He
was a friend of your sister's, was he not?"

"I never heard her mention his name," she answered. "Still, of course,
it is possible. This man was apparently not sure whether he was Meysey
Hill or not."

"How long had he been in the hospital?" Courtlaw asked.

"Since last night."

"Then, whoever he may be, he is not Meysey Hill," Courtlaw said. "That
young man was giving a luncheon party to a dozen friends at the Cafe
de Paris to-day. I sat within a few feet of him. I feel almost
inclined to regret the fact."

"Why?" she asked.

"If one half of the stories about Meysey Hill are true," he answered,
"I would not stretch out my little finger to save his life."

"Isn't that a little extreme?"

"I am an extreme person at times. This man has an evil reputation. I
know of scandalous deeds which he has done."

Anna had reached the house where she lodged, but she hesitated on the
doorstep.

"Have you ever seen Annabel with him?" she asked.

"Never."

"It is odd that this man at the hospital should call himself Meysey
Hill," she remarked.

"If you wish," he said, "I will go there in the morning and see what
can be done for him."

"It would be very kind of you," she declared. "I am only sorry that I
did not ask you to go with me."

She rang the bell, and he waited by her side until she was admitted to
the tall, gloomy lodging-house. And ever after it struck him that her
backward smile as she disappeared was charged with some special
significance. The door closed upon her, and he moved reluctantly away.
When next he asked for her, some twelve hours later, he was told that
Mademoiselle had left. His most eager inquiries and most lavish bribes
could gain no further information than that she had left for England,
and that her address was--London.

_Chapter VII_

MISS PELLISSIER'S SUSPICIONS

"Anna!"

Anna kissed her sister and nodded to her aunt. Then she sat
down--uninvited--and looked from one to the other curiously. There was
something about their greeting and the tone of Annabel's exclamation
which puzzled her.

"I wish," she said, "that you would leave off looking at me as though
I