nowy shoulders,
on which the green light flashed and waned. He saw Cornelia, as she had
appeared, sitting in the front row of the stalls at the theatre, and
mentally clasped the necklace round her throat.

The door opened. He thrust the vision aside, and wheeled round quickly,
reassuming his sternest expression. A dejected little girl stood on the
threshold, with dishevelled locks and tear-stained eyes, and as he
stared in amazement, she quietly closed the door, and collapsed in a
limp little heap on the corner of the sofa.

"I've--come back!"

"Where's Mrs Moffatt?"

"She's"--the voice broke in a strangled sob--"_gone_!"

"Gone _where_?"

"Gone away. Ten minutes ago. She's ever so far off by now!"

Guest stood still, transfixed with anger and astonishment.

"Do you mean to say that she escaped before your eyes? What happened?
Did you leave her alone in your room?"

"No; I told her to go. I sent her away. It was my suggestion from the
start."

"You--told--her--to go!" Guest's face was a study of outraged wrath.
"After all she has done; after the deliberate way in which she has
cheated and deceived you; after the lies she has told; after her
thefts,--hundreds of pounds still to pay up! after intending to desert
you in this hotel, you mean to tell me seriously that you _sent_ her
away!"

The tousled head nodded dumbly; two big tears trickled down the reddened
cheeks.

"Are you aware that you have compounded a felony? If Mr Marchant heard
what you had done, he could accuse you of being a partner in the crime.
Do you know that you have broken the law of the country, and that I
could give you in charge at this moment, if I wished to do so?"

"I guess that's so.--Are you going to do it?"

"That's ridiculous! You know it is, but--"

"Then you're another!" cried Cornelia, laughing through her tears.
"You're as bad as I am, so you can't preach! She's gone anyway, and
I'm--_glad_! We got the necklace, and for the rest, I'll just have to
pay up, and look pleasant. Poppar says you've got to pay for experience
in this world. I'll tell him I concluded I'd better learn it pretty
thoroughly, once I'd started. He won't mind."

"Your father must be a wealthy man if he can afford to lose four or five
hundred pounds without feeling annoyed!"

Cornelia looked at him quickly, and replied in a tone of studied
indifference.

"Oh, he's flush enough at the moment. Likely enough we shall be paupers
next y