invitation. You wished to see me?"

"I did. But I fear it is now too late to avert what I had intended," was
her quiet response. The door was closed, the room was silent, and we were
alone.

Seated in an armchair the woman leaned back and gazed at me strangely
from beneath her long, half-closed lashes, as though undecided what she
should say. I instantly detected her hesitation, and said:

"You told me in your message that something unexpected had occurred. What
is it? Does it concern our mutual friend, Digby?"

"Friend!" she echoed. "You call him your friend, and yet at the same time
you have been in search of him, intending to betray him to the police!"

"Such was certainly not my intention," I declared firmly. "I admit that I
have endeavoured to find him, but it was because I wished to speak with
him."

"Ah! of course," she sneered. "That girl Shand has, perhaps, made a
statement to you, and now you want to be inquisitive, eh? She's been
trying to clear herself by telling you some fairy-tale or another, I
suppose?"

"I repeat, Mrs. Petre," I said with anger, "I have no desire nor
intention to act towards Digby in any way other than with friendliness."

"Ah! You expect me to believe that, my dear sir," she laughed, snapping
her fingers airily. "No, that girl is his enemy, and I am hers."

"And that is the reason why you have sent the anonymous letter to the
police!" I said in a low, hard voice, my eyes full upon her.

She started at my words.

"What letter?" she asked, in pretence of ignorance.

"The one mentioned at the adjourned inquest at Kensington," I replied.
"The one in which you offer to sell the life of the woman I love!"

"So you know she is guilty--eh?" the woman asked. "She has confessed it
to you--has she not?"

"No. She is innocent," I cried. "I will never believe in her guilt until
it is proved."

"Then it will not be long, Mr. Royle, before you will have quite
sufficient proof," she replied with a triumphant smile upon her lips.

"You are prepared to sell those proofs, I understand," I said, suddenly
assuming an air of extreme gravity. "Now, I'm a business man. If you wish
to dispose of this information, why not sell it to me?"

She laughed in my face.

"No, not to you, my dear sir. My business is with the police, not with
the girl's lover," was her quick response.

"But the price," I said. "I will outbid the police if necessary."

"No doubt you would be only too glad of the cha