did he tell her of his conversation with Ballantyne
about the photograph. "He was in a panic. He had delusions," he said and
left the matter there. Thresk had the lawyer's mind or rather the mind of
a lawyer in big practice. He had the instinct for the essential fact and
the knowledge that it was most lucid when presented in a naked
simplicity. He was at pains to set before Jane Repton what he had seen of
the life which Stella lived with Stephen Ballantyne and nothing else.

"Now," he said when he had finished, "you sent me to Chitipur. I must
know why."

And when she hesitated he overbore her.

"You can be guilty of no disloyalty to your friend," he insisted, "by
being frank with me. After all I have given guarantees. I went to
Chitipur upon your word. I have missed my boat. You bade me go to
Chitipur. That told me too little or too much. I say too little. I have
got to know all now." And he rose up and stood before her. "What do you
know about Stephen Ballantyne?"

"I'll tell you," said Jane Repton. She looked at the clock. "You had
better stay and lunch with us if you will. We shall be alone. I'll tell
you afterwards. Meanwhile--" and in her turn she stood up. The sense of
responsibility was heavy upon her.

She had sent this man upon his errand of knowledge. He had done, in
consequence of it, a stronger, a wilder thing than she had thought, than
she had hoped for. She had a panicky feeling that she had set great
forces at work.

"Meanwhile--" asked Thresk; and she drew a breath of relief. The
steadiness of his eyes and voice comforted her. His quiet insistence gave
her courage. None of her troubles and doubts had any place apparently in
his mind. A nervous horse in the hands of a real horseman--thus she
thought of herself in Thresk's presence.

"Meanwhile I'll give you one reason why I wanted you to go. My husband's
time in India is up. We are leaving for England altogether in a month's
time. We shall not come back at all. And when we have gone Stella will be
left without one intimate friend in the whole country."

"Yes," said Thresk. "That wouldn't do, would it?" and they went in to
their luncheon.

All through that meal, before the servants, they talked what is written
in the newspapers. And of the two she who had fears and hesitations was
still the most impatient to get it done. She had her curiosity and it
was beginning to consume her. What had Thresk known of Stella and she of
him before she had com