matter."

"Yes," I said; "there would be with George."

"He's horribly frightened of you. Of course he tries to hide it from
me, but I can see that ever since you escaped from prison he has been
living in a state of absolute terror. His one idea at present is a
frantic hope that you will be recaptured. That's partly where I come
in."

"You?" I repeated.

"Yes. He thinks that sooner or later, when you want help, you will
probably write and tell me where you are."

"And then you are to pass the good news on to him?"

She nodded. "He says that if I let him know at once, he will arrange
to get you safely out of the country."

I lay back in the chair and laughed out loud.

Joyce, who was still sitting on the arm, looked down happily into my
face. "Oh," she said, "I love to hear you laugh again." Then, slipping
her hand into mine, she went on: "I suppose he means to arrange it so
that it will look as if you had been caught by accident while he was
trying to help you."

"I expect so," I said. "I should be out of the way again then, and you
would be so overcome by gratitude--Oh, yes, there's quite a Georgian
touch about it."

The sharp tinkle of an electric bell broke in on our conversation.
Joyce jumped up from the chair, and for a moment both remained
listening while "Jack" answered the door.

"I know who it is," whispered Joyce. "It's old Lady Mortimer. She had
an appointment for one o'clock."

"But what have you arranged to do?" I asked. "There's no reason you
should put all your people off. I can go away for the time, or stop in
another room, or something."

"No, no; it's all right," whispered Joyce. "I'll tell you in a
minute."

She waited until we heard the front door shut, and then coming back to
me sat down again on my knee.

"I told Jack," she said, "not to let any one into the flat till three
o'clock. I have an appointment then I ought to keep, but that still
gives us nearly two hours. I will send Jack across to Stewart's to
fetch us some lunch, and we'll have it in here. What would you like,
my Neil?"

"Anything but eggs and bacon," I said, getting out another cigarette.

She jumped up with a laugh, and, after striking me a match, went out
into the passage, leaving the door open. I heard her call the page-boy
and give him some instructions, and then she came back into the room,
her eyes dancing with happiness and excitement.

"Isn't this splendid!" she exclaimed. "Only this morning I was ut