ly. I had noted you, Sir Richard,
as a man whose friendship I had hoped to gain. Knowing your trials,
and"--glancing at the girl's pale face--"with what object you suffered
them, I had respected you, whilst desiring an opportunity to point out
to you the falsity of your position. I had thought that a man who could
win such a prize as has fallen to your lot must, essentially, be above
all that was petty--all that was mean."

Haredale clenched his hands angrily. Never since his Eton days had such
words been addressed to him. He glared at the over-presumptuous
mountebank--for so he appraised him; he told himself that, save for a
woman's presence, he would have knocked him down. He met the calm but
imperious gaze--and did nothing, said nothing.

"A woman may be judged," continued the fascinating voice, "not by her
capacity for love, but by her capacity for that rarer thing, friendship.
A woman who, at her great personal peril, can befriend another woman is
a pearl beyond price. Knowing me, you have ceased to fear me as a rival,
Sir Richard." (To his mental amazement something that was not of his
mind, it seemed, told Haredale that this was so.) "It remains only for
you to hear that simple explanation. Here it is."

He handed a note to him. It was as follows:

"You have confided to me the secret of your residence, where I
might see or communicate with you, and I was coming to see you
to-night, but I have met with a slight accident--enough to prevent
me. Lady Mary has volunteered to go alone. I will not betray your
confidence, but our friendly acquaintance cannot continue unless
you _instantly_ release my father--for I know that you have done
this outrageous thing. He is ill and it is very, very cruel. I beg
of you to let him return at once. If you admire true friendship and
unselfishness, as you profess, do this to repay Mary Evershed, who
risks irretrievably compromising herself to take this note--

"ZOE OPPNER."

"Miss Oppner, descending the stairs at Lord Evershed's in too great
haste," explained Severac Bablon, and a new note, faint but perceptible,
had crept into his voice, "had the misfortune to sustain a slight
accident--I am happy to know, no more than slight. Lady Mary brought me
her message. I commit no breach of trust in showing it to you. There is
a telephone in the room at Lord Evershed's in which Miss Oppner remains
at present, and, as you entered, I