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肩書を与える: The Angel Of Terror
Author: Edgar Wallace
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Language: English
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The Angel Of Terror

by

Edgar Wallace

TO F.L.S.—A MAN OF LAW

Published by Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1922

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

The hush of the 法廷，裁判所, which had been broken when the foreman of the 陪審／陪審員団 returned their 判決, was 強めるd as the 裁判官, with a quick ちらりと見ること over his pince-nez at the tall 囚人, marshalled his papers with the precision and method which old men 陳列する，発揮する in 緊張した moments such as these. He gathered them together, white paper and blue and buff and stacked them in a neat heap on a tiny ledge to the left of his desk. Then he took his pen and wrote a few words on a printed paper before him.

Another breathless pause and he groped beneath the desk and brought out a small square of 黒人／ボイコット silk and carefully laid it over his white wig. Then he spoke:

"James Meredith, you have been 罪人／有罪を宣告するd after a long and 患者 裁判，公判 of the awful 罪，犯罪 of wilful 殺人. With the 判決 of the 陪審／陪審員団 I am in 完全にする 協定. There is little 疑問, after 審理，公聴会 the 証拠 of the unfortunate lady to whom you were engaged, and whose 証拠 you 試みる／企てるd in the most 残虐な manner to 反駁する, that, 扇動するd by your jealousy, you 発射 Ferdinand Bulford. The 証拠 of 行方不明になる Briggerland that you had 脅すd this poor young man, and that you left her presence in a temper, is unshaken. By a terrible coincidence, Mr. Bulford was in the street outside your fiancée's door when you left, and maddened by your insane jealousy, you 発射 him dead.

"To 示唆する, as you have through your counsel, that you called at 行方不明になる Briggerland's that night to break off your 約束／交戦 and that the interview was a 穏やかな one and unattended by recriminations is to 示唆する that this lady has deliberately committed 偽証 ーするために 断言する away your life, and when to that disgraceful 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 you produce a 動機, すなわち that by your death or 監禁，拘置 行方不明になる Briggerland, who is your cousin, would 利益 to a かなりの extent, you 単に 追加する to your infamy. Nobody who saw the young girl in the box, a pathetic, and if I may say, a beautiful 人物／姿／数字, could 受託する for one moment your fantastic explanation.

"Who killed Ferdinand Bulford? A man without an enemy in the world. That 悲劇 cannot be explained away. It now only remains for me to pass the 宣告，判決 which the 法律 課すs. The 陪審／陪審員団's 推薦 to mercy will be 今後d to the proper ４半期/4分の1... "

He then proceeded to pass 宣告，判決 of death, and the tall man in the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる listened without a muscle of his 直面する moving.

So ended the 広大な／多数の／重要な Berkeley Street 殺人 裁判，公判, and when a few days later it was 発表するd that the 宣告，判決 of death had been 減刑する／通勤するd to one of penal servitude for life, there were newspapers and people who hinted at mistaken leniency and 示唆するd that James Meredith would have been hanged if he were a poor man instead of 存在, as he was, the master of 広大な wealth.

"That's that," said Jack Glover between his teeth, as he （機の）カム out of 法廷，裁判所 with the 著名な King's Counsel who had defended his friend and （弁護士の）依頼人, "the little lady 勝利，勝つs."

His companion looked sideways at him and smiled.

"Honestly, Glover, do you believe that poor girl could do so dastardly a thing as 嘘（をつく） about the man she loves?"

"She loves!" repeated Jack Glover witheringly.

"I think you are prejudiced," said the counsel, shaking his 長，率いる. "本人自身で, I believe that Meredith is a lunatic; I am 満足させるd that all he told us about the interview he had with the girl was born of a 病気d imagination. I was terribly impressed when I saw ジーンズ Briggerland in the box. She—by Jove, there is the lady!"

They had reached the 入り口 of the 法廷，裁判所. A big car was standing by the kerb and one of the attendants was 持つ／拘留するing open the door for a girl dressed in 黒人／ボイコット. They had a glimpse of a pale, sad 直面する of 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の beauty, and then she disappeared behind the drawn blinds.

The counsel drew a long sigh.

"Mad!" he said huskily. "He must be mad! If ever I saw a pure soul in a woman's 直面する, it is in hers!"

"You've been in the sun, Sir John—you're getting sentimental," said Jack Glover 残酷に, and the 著名な lawyer choked indignantly.

Jack Glover had a trick of 説 rude things to his friends, even when those friends were twenty years his 上級の, and by every 支配する of professional etiquette する権利を与えるd to respectful 治療.

"Really!" said the 乱暴／暴力を加えるd Sir John. "There are times, Glover, when you are insufferable!"

But by this time Jack Glover was swinging along the Old Bailey, his 手渡すs in his pockets, his silk hat on the 支援する of his 長，率いる.

He 設立する the grey-haired 上級の member of the 会社／堅い of Rennett, Glover and Simpson (there had been no Simpson in the 会社／堅い for ten years) on the point of going home.

Mr. Rennett sat 負かす／撃墜する at the sight of his junior.

"I heard the news by 'phone," he said. "Ellbery says there is no ground for 控訴，上告, but I think the 推薦 to mercy will save his life—besides it is a 罪，犯罪 passionelle, and they don't hang for homicidal jealousy. I suppose it was the girl's 証拠 that turned the trick?"

Jack nodded.

"And she looked like an angel just out of the refrigerator," he said despairingly. "Ellbery did his poor best to shake her, but the old fool is half in love with her—I left him raving about her pure soul and her other celestial etceteras."

Mr. Rennett 一打／打撃d his アイロンをかける grey 耐えるd.

"She's won," he said, but the other turned on him with a snarl.

"Not yet!" he said almost 厳しく. "She hasn't won till Jimmy Meredith is dead or—"

"Or—?" repeated his partner 意味ありげに. "That 'or' won't come off, Jack. He'll get a life 宣告，判決 as sure as 'eggs is eggs.' I'd go a long way to help Jimmy; I'd 危険 my practice and my 指名する."

Jack Glover looked at his partner in astonishment.

"You old sportsman!" he said admiringly. "I didn't know you were so fond of Jimmy?"

Mr. Rennett got up and began pulling on his gloves. He seemed a little uncomfortable at the sensation he had created.

"His father was my first （弁護士の）依頼人," he said apologetically. "One of the best fellows that ever lived. He married late in life, that was why he was such a crank over the question of marriage. You might say that old Meredith 設立するd our 会社／堅い. Your father and Simpson and I were nearly at our last gasp when Meredith gave us his 商売／仕事. That was our turning point. Your father—God 残り／休憩（する） him—was never tired of talking about it. I wonder he never told you."

"I think he did," said Jack thoughtfully. "And you really would go a long way—Rennett—I mean, to help Jim Meredith?"

"All the way," said old Rennett すぐに.

Jack Glover began whistling a long lugubrious tune.

"I'm seeing the old boy to-morrow," he said. "By the way, Rennett, did you see that a fellow had been 解放（する）d from 刑務所，拘置所 to a nursing home for a minor 操作／手術 the other day? There was a question asked in 議会 about it. Is it usual?"

"It can be arranged," said Rennett. "Why?"

"Do you think in a few months' time we could get Jim Meredith into a nursing home for—say an 虫垂 操作／手術?"

"Has he appendicitis?" asked the other in surprise.

"He can 偽の it," said Jack calmly. "It's the easiest thing in the world to 偽の."

Rennett looked at the other under his 激しい eyebrows.

"You're thinking of the 'or'?" he challenged, and Jack nodded.

"It can be done—if he's alive," said Rennett after a pause.

"He'll be alive," prophesied his partner, "now the only thing is —where shall I find the girl?"

CHAPTER II

Lydia Beale gathered up the 捨てるs of paper that littered her （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, rolled them into a ball and 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd them into the 解雇する／砲火／射撃.

There was a knock at the door, and she half turned in her 議長，司会を務める to 会合，会う with a smile her stout landlady who （機の）カム in carrying a tray on which stood a large cup of tea and two 厚い and wholesome slices of bread and jam.

"Finished, 行方不明になる Beale?" asked the landlady anxiously.

"For the day, yes," said the girl with a nod, and stood up stretching herself stiffly.

She was slender, a 長，率いる taller than the dumpy Mrs. Morgan. The dark violet 注目する，もくろむs and the delicate spiritual 直面する she 借りがあるd to her Celtic ancestors, the grace of her movements, no いっそう少なく than the perfect 手渡すs that 残り／休憩（する）d on the 製図／抽選 board, spoke eloquently of 産む／飼育する.

"I'd like to see it, 行方不明になる, if I may," said Mrs. Morgan, wiping her 手渡すs on her apron in 予期.

Lydia pulled open a drawer of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and took out a large sheet of Windsor board. She had 完全にするd her pencil sketch and Mrs. Morgan gasped appreciatively. It was a picture of a masked man 持つ／拘留するing a villainous （人が）群がる at bay at the point of a ピストル.

"That's wonderful, 行方不明になる," she said in awe. "I suppose those sort of things happen too?"

The girl laughed as she put the 製図／抽選 away.

"They happen in stories which I illustrate, Mrs. Morgan," she said dryly. "The real brigands of life come in the 形態／調整 of lawyers' clerks with 令状s and summonses. It's a 救済 from those mad fashion plates I draw, anyway. Do you know, Mrs. Morgan, that the sight of a dressmaker's shop window makes me 前向きに／確かに ill!"

Mrs. Morgan shook her 長，率いる sympathetically and Lydia changed the 支配する.

"Has anybody been this afternoon?" she asked.

"Only the young man from Spadd & Newton," replied the stout woman with a sigh. "I told 'im you was out, but I'm a bad liar."

The girl groaned.

"I wonder if I shall ever get to the end of those 負債s," she said in despair. "I've enough 令状s in the drawer to paper the house, Mrs. Morgan."

Three years ago Lydia Beale's father had died and she had lost the best friend and companion that any girl ever had. She knew he was in 負債, but had no idea how extensively he was 伴う／関わるd. A creditor had seen her the day after the funeral and had made some uncouth 言及／関連 to the convenience of a death which had automatically cancelled George Beale's 義務s. It needed only that to 刺激（する） the girl to an 活動／戦闘 which was as foolish as it was generous. She had written to all the people to whom her father 借りがあるd money and had assumed 十分な 責任／義務 for 負債s 量ing to hundreds of 続けざまに猛撃するs.

It was the Celt in her that drove her to shoulder the 重荷（を負わせる） which she was ill-equipped to carry, but she had never regretted her impetuous 行為／法令／行動する.

There were a few creditors who, realising what had happened, did not bother her, and there were others...

She earned a 公正に／かなり good salary on the staff of the Daily Megaphone, which made a feature of fashion, but she would have had to have been the 受取人 of a 閣僚 大臣's emoluments to have met the 需要・要求するs which flowed in upon her a month after she had 受託するd her father's 義務s.

"Are you going out to-night, 行方不明になる?" asked the woman.

Lydia roused herself from her unpleasant thoughts.

"Yes. I'm making some 製図／抽選s of the dresses in 外出禁止令's new play. I'll be home somewhere around twelve."

Mrs. Morgan was half-way across the room when she turned 支援する.

"One of these days you'll get out of all your troubles, 行方不明になる, you see if you don't! I'll bet you'll marry a rich young gentleman."

Lydia, sitting on the 辛勝する／優位 of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, laughed.

"You'd lose your money, Mrs. Morgan," she said, "rich young gentlemen only marry poor working girls in the 肉親，親類d of stories I illustrate. If I marry it will probably be a very poor young gentleman who will become an incurable 無効の and want nursing. And I shall hate him so much that I can't be happy with him, and pity him so much that I can't run away from him."

Mrs. Morgan 匂いをかぐd her 不一致.

"There are things that happen—" she began.

"Not to me—not 奇蹟s, anyway," said Lydia, still smiling, "and I don't know that I want to get married. I've got to 支払う／賃金 all these 法案s first, and by the time they are settled I'll be a grey-haired old lady in a 暴徒 cap."

Lydia had finished her tea and was standing somewhat scantily attired in the middle of her bedroom, 準備するing for her theatre 約束／交戦, when Mrs. Morgan returned.

"I forgot to tell you, 行方不明になる," she said, "there was a gentleman and a lady called."

"A gentleman and a lady? Who were they?"

"I don't know, 行方不明になる Beale. I was lying 負かす／撃墜する at the time, and the girl answered the door. I gave her strict orders to say that you were out."

"Did they leave any 指名する?"

"No, 行方不明になる. They just asked if 行方不明になる Beale lived here, and could they see her."

"H'm!" said Lydia with a frown. "I wonder what we 借りがある them!"

She 解任するd the 事柄 from her mind, and thought no more of it until she stopped on her way to the theatre to learn from the office by telephone the number of 製図／抽選s 要求するd.

The 長，指導者 sub-editor answered her.

"And, by the way," he 追加するd, "there was an 調査 for you at the office to-day—I 設立する a 公式文書，認める of it on my desk when I （機の）カム in to- night. Some old friends of yours who want to see you. Brand told them you were going to do a show at the Erving Theatre to-night, so you'll probably see them."

"Who are they?" she asked, puzzled.

She had few friends, old or new.

"I 港／避難所't the foggiest idea," was the reply.

At the theatre she saw nobody she knew, though she looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する interestedly, nor was she approached in any of the entr'行為／法令／行動するs.

In the 列／漕ぐ／騒動 ahead of her, and a little to her 権利, were two people who regarded her curiously as she entered. The man was about fifty, very dark and bald—the 肌 of his 長，率いる was almost 巡査-coloured, though he was 明白に a European, for the 注目する，もくろむs which beamed benevolently upon her through powerful spectacles were blue, but so light a blue that by contrast with the mahogany 肌 of his clean-shaven 直面する, they seemed almost white.

The girl who sat with him was fair, and to Lydia's artistic 注目する，もくろむ, singularly lovely. Her hair was a mop of 罰金 gold. The colour was natural, Lydia was too sophisticated to make any mistake about that. Her features were 正規の／正選手 and flawless. The young artist thought she had never seen so perfect a "cupid" mouth in her life. There was something so freshly, fragrantly innocent about the girl that Lydia's heart went out to her, and she could hardly keep her 注目する，もくろむs on the 行う／開催する／段階. The unknown seemed to take almost as much 利益／興味 in her, for twice Lydia surprised her backward scrutiny. She 設立する herself wondering who she was. The girl was beautifully dressed, and about her neck was a platinum chain that must have hung to her waist—a chain which was broken every few インチs by a big emerald.

It 要求するd something of an 成果／努力 of 集中 to bring her mind 支援する to the 行う／開催する／段階 and her work. With a 調書をとる／予約する on her 膝 she sketched the somewhat bizarre 衣装s which had 誘発するd a 穏やかな public 利益／興味 in the play, and for the moment forgot her 入り口ing companion.

She （機の）カム through the vestibule at the end of the 業績／成果, and drew her worn cloak more closely about her slender shoulders, for the night was raw, and a sou'westerly 勝利，勝つd blew the big wet snowflakes under the 保護するing glass awning into the ロビー itself. The favoured playgoers minced daintily through the slush to their waiting cars, then taxis （機の）カム into the 行列 of waiting 乗り物s, there was a banging of cab doors, a babble of orders to the scurrying attendants, until something like order was 発展させるd from the 大混乱.

"Cab, 行方不明になる?"

Lydia shook her 長，率いる. An omnibus would take her to (n)艦隊／(a)素早い Street, but two had passed, packed with 乗客s, and she was beginning to despair, when a 特に handsome taxi pulled up at the kerb.

The driver leant over the 向こうずねing apron which 部分的に／不公平に 保護するd him from the 天候, and shouted:

"Is 行方不明になる Beale there?"

The girl started in surprise, taking a step toward the cab.

"I am 行方不明になる Beale," she said.

"Your editor has sent me for you," said the man briskly.

The editor of the Megaphone had been 有罪の of many eccentric 行為／法令／行動するs. He had 表明するd 見解（をとる）s on her 製図／抽選 which she shivered to 解任する. He had 誘発するd her in the middle of the night to sketch dresses at a fancy dress ball, but never before had he done anything so human as to send a taxi for her. にもかかわらず, she would not look at the gift cab too closely, and she stepped into the warm 内部の.

The windows were 隠すd with the snow and the sleet which had been 落ちるing all the time she had been in the theatre. She saw blurred lights flash past, and realised that the taxi was going at a good pace. She rubbed the windows and tried to look out after a while. Then she endeavoured to lower one, but without success. Suddenly she jumped up and tapped furiously at the window to attract the driver's attention. There was no mistaking the fact that they were crossing a 橋（渡しをする） and it was not necessary to cross a 橋（渡しをする） to reach (n)艦隊／(a)素早い Street.

If the driver heard he took no notice. The 速度(を上げる） of the car 増加するd. She tapped at the window again furiously. She was not afraid, but she was angry. Presently 恐れる （機の）カム. It was when she tried to open the door, and 設立する that it was fastened from the outside, that she struck a match to discover that the windows had been screwed tight—the 辛勝する／優位 of the 穴を開ける where the screw had gone in was rawly new, and the screw's 長，率いる was 有望な and 向こうずねing.

She had no umbrella—she never carried one to the theatre —and nothing more 相当な in the 形態／調整 of a 武器 than a fountain pen. She could 粉砕する the windows with her foot. She sat 支援する in the seat, and discovered that it was not so 平易な an 操作／手術 as she had thought. She hesitated even to make the 試みる／企てる; and then the panic sense left her, and she was her own 静める self again. She was not 存在 誘拐するd. These things did not happen in the twentieth century, except in sensational 調書をとる／予約するs. She frowned. She had said almost the same thing to somebody that day—to Mrs. Morgan, who had hinted at a romantic marriage. Of course, nothing was wrong. The driver had called her by 指名する. Probably the editor 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see her at his home, he lived somewhere in South London, she remembered. That would explain everything. And yet her instinct told her that something unusual was happening, that some unpleasant experience was 切迫した.

She tried to put the thought out of her mind, but it was too vivid, too insistent.

Again she tried the door, and then, conscious of a faint 反映するd glow on the cloth-lined roof of the cab, she looked backward through the peep-穴を開ける. She saw two 広大な／多数の／重要な モーター-car lamps within a few yards of the cab. A car was に引き続いて, she glimpsed the 輪郭（を描く） of it as they ran past a street 基準.

They were in one of the roads of the outer 郊外s. Looking through the window over the driver's shoulder she saw trees on one 味方する of the road, and a long grey 盗品故買者. It was while she was so looking that the car behind 発射 suddenly past and ahead, and she saw its tail lights moving away with a pang of hopelessness. Then, before she realised what had happened, the big car ahead slowed and swung sideways, 封鎖するing the road, and the cab （機の）カム to a jerky stop that flung her against the window. She saw two 人物／姿／数字s in the 薄暗い light of the taxi's 長，率いる lamps, heard somebody speak, and the door was jerked open.

"Will you step out, 行方不明になる Beale," said a pleasant 発言する／表明する, and though her 脚s seemed queerly weak, she 強いるd. The second man was standing by the 味方する of the driver. He wore a long raincoat, the collar of which was turned up to the tip of his nose.

"You may go 支援する to your friends and tell them that 行方不明になる Beale is in good 手渡すs," he was 説. "You may also 燃やす a candle or two before your favourite saint, in thanksgiving that you are alive."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said the driver sulkily. "I'm taking this young lady to her office."

"Since when has the Daily Megaphone been published in the 恐ろしい 郊外s?" asked the other politely.

He saw the girl, and raised his hat.

"Come along, 行方不明になる Beale," he said. "I 約束 you a more comfortable ride—even if I cannot 保証（人） that the end will be いっそう少なく startling."

CHAPTER III

The man who had opened the door was a short, stoutly built person of middle age. He took the girl's arm gently, and without 尋問 she …を伴ってd him to the car ahead, the man in the raincoat に引き続いて. No word was spoken, and Lydia was too bewildered to ask questions until the car was on its way. Then the younger man chuckled.

"Clever, Rennett!" he said. "I tell you, those people are 最高の- humanly brilliant!"

"I'm not a 広大な／多数の／重要な admirer of villainy," said the other gruffly, and the younger man, who was sitting opposite the girl, laughed.

"You must take a detached 利益／興味, my dear chap. 本人自身で, I admire them. I 収容する／認める they gave me a fright when I realised that 行方不明になる Beale had not called the cab, but that it had been carefully 工場／植物d for her, but still I can admire them."

"What does it mean?" asked the puzzled girl. "I'm so 混乱させるd —where are we going now? To the office?"

"I 恐れる you will not get to the office to-night," said the young man calmly, "and it is impossible to explain to you just why you were 誘拐するd."

"誘拐するd?" said the girl incredulously. "Do you mean to say that man—"

"He was carrying you into the country," said the other calmly. "He would probably have travelled all night and have left you 立ち往生させるd in some un-get-at-able place. I don't think he meant any 害（を与える）—they never take unnecessary 危険s, and all they 手配中の，お尋ね者 was to spirit you away for the night. How they （機の）カム to know that we had chosen you baffles me," he said. "Can you 前進する any theory, Rennett?"

"Chosen me?" repeated the startled girl. "Really, I feel I'm する権利を与えるd to some explanation, and if you don't mind, I would like you to take me 支援する to my office. I have a 職業 to keep," she 追加するd grimly.

"Six 続けざまに猛撃するs ten a week, and a few guineas extra for your illustrations," said the man in the raincoat. "Believe me, 行方不明になる Beale, you'll never 支払う／賃金 off your 負債s on that salary, not if you live to be a hundred."

She could only gasp.

"You seem to know a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 about my 私的な 事件／事情／状勢s," she said, when she had 回復するd her breath.

"A 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 more than you can imagine."

She guessed he was smiling in the 不明瞭, and his 発言する／表明する was so gentle and apologetic that she could not take offence.

"In the past twelve months you have had thirty-nine judgments 記録，記録的な／記録するd against you, and in the previous year, twenty-seven. You are living on 正確に／まさに thirty shillings a week, and all the 残り／休憩（する） is going to your father's creditors."

"You're very impertinent!" she said hotly and, as she felt, foolishly.

"I'm very pertinent, really. By the way, my 指名する is Glover—John Glover, of the 会社／堅い of Rennett, Glover and Simpson. The gentleman at your 味方する is Mr. Charles Rennett, my 上級の partner. We are a 会社／堅い of solicitors, but how long we shall remain a 会社／堅い," he 追加するd pointedly, "depends rather upon you."

"Upon me?" said the girl in 本物の astonishment. "井戸／弁護士席, I can't say that I have so much love for lawyers—"

"That I can 井戸／弁護士席 understand," murmured Mr. Glover.

"But I certainly do not wish to 解散させる your 共同," she went on.

"It is rather more serious than that," said Mr. Rennett, who was sitting by her 味方する. "The fact is, 行方不明になる Beale, we are 事実上の／代理 in a perfectly 違法な manner, and we are going to 明らかにする／漏らす to you the particulars of an 行為／法令／行動する we 熟視する／熟考する, which, if you pass on the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） to the police, will result in our professional 廃虚. So you see this adventure is infinitely more important to us than at 現在の it is to you. And here we are!" he said, interrupting the girl's question.

The car turned into a 狭くする 運動, and proceeded some distance through an avenue of trees before it pulled up at the 中心存在d porch of a big house.

Rennett helped her to alight and 勧めるd her through the door, which opened almost as they stopped, into a large panelled hall.

"This is the way, let me show you," said the younger man.

He opened a door and she 設立する herself in a big 製図／抽選-room, exquisitely furnished and lit by two silver electroliers 一時停止するd from the carved roof.

To her 救済 an 年輩の woman rose to 迎える／歓迎する her.

"This is my wife, 行方不明になる Beale," said Rennett. "I need hardly explain that this is also my home."

"So you 設立する the young lady," said the 年輩の lady, smiling her welcome, "and what does 行方不明になる Beale think of your proposition?"

The young man Glover （機の）カム in at that moment, and divested of his long raincoat and hat, he 証明するd to be of a type that the Universities turn out by the hundred. He was good-looking too, Lydia noticed with feminine inconsequence, and there was something in his 注目する，もくろむs that 奮起させるd 信用. He nodded with a smile to Mrs. Rennett, then turned to the girl.

"Now 行方不明になる Beale, I don't know whether I せねばならない explain or whether my learned and distinguished friend prefers to save me the trouble."

"Not me," said the 年上の man あわてて. "My dear," he turned to his wife, "I think we'll leave Jack Glover to talk to this young lady."

"Doesn't she know?" asked Mrs. Rennett in surprise, and Lydia laughed, although she was feeling far from amused.

The possible loss of her 雇用, the disquieting adventure of the evening, and now this その上の mystery all 連合させるd to 始める，決める her 神経s on 辛勝する／優位.

Glover waited until the door の近くにd on his partner and his wife and seemed inclined to wait a little longer, for he stood with his 支援する to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, biting his lips and looking 負かす／撃墜する thoughtfully at the carpet.

"I don't just know how to begin, 行方不明になる Beale," he said. "And having seen you, my 良心 is beginning to work overtime. But I might 同様に start at the beginning. I suppose you have heard of the Bulford 殺人?"

The girl 星／主役にするd at him.

"The Bulford 殺人?" she said incredulously, and he nodded.

"Why, of course, everybody has heard of that."

"Then happily it is unnecessary to explain all the circumstances," said Jack Glover, with a little grimace of distaste.

"I only know," interrupted the girl, "that Mr. Bulford was killed by a Mr. Meredith, who was jealous of him, and that Mr. Meredith, when he went into the 証言，証人／目撃する-box, behaved disgracefully to his fiancée."

"正確に／まさに," nodded Glover with a twinkle in his 注目する，もくろむ. "In other words, he repudiated the suggestion that he was jealous, swore that he had already told 行方不明になる Briggerland that he could not marry her, and he did not even know that Bulford was 支払う／賃金ing attention to the lady."

"He did that to save his life," said Lydia 静かに. "行方不明になる Briggerland swore in the 証言，証人／目撃する-box that no such interview had occurred."

Glover nodded.

"What you do not know, 行方不明になる Beale," he said 厳粛に, "is that ジーンズ Briggerland was Meredith's cousin, and unless 確かな things happen, she will 相続する the greater part of six hundred thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs from Meredith's 広い地所. Meredith, I might explain, is one of my best friends, and the fact that he is now serving out a life 宣告，判決 does not make him any いっそう少なく a friend. I am as sure, as I am sure of your sitting there, that he no more killed Bulford than I did. I believe the whole thing was a 陰謀（を企てる） to 安全な・保証する his death or 監禁，拘置. My partner thinks the same. The truth is that Meredith was engaged to this girl; he discovered 確かな things about her and her father which are not 大いに to their credit. He was never really in love with her, beautiful as she is, and he was 罠にかける into the 提案. When he 設立する out how things were 形態／調整ing and heard some of the queer stories which were told about Briggerland and his daughter, he broke off the 約束／交戦 and went that night to tell her so."

The girl had listened in some bewilderment to this recital.

"I don't 正確に／まさに see what all this is to do with me," she said, and again Jack Glover nodded.

"I can やめる understand," he said, "but I will tell you yet another part of the story which is not public 所有物／資産／財産. Meredith's father was an eccentric man who believed in 早期に marriages, and it was a 条件 of his will that if Meredith was not married by his thirtieth birthday, the money should go to his sister, her 相続人s and 後継者s. His sister was Mrs. Briggerland, who is now dead. Her 相続人s are her husband and ジーンズ Briggerland."

There was a silence. The girl 星／主役にするd thoughtfully into the 解雇する／砲火／射撃.

"How old is Mr. Meredith?"

"He is thirty next Monday," said Glover 静かに, "and it is necessary that he should be married before next Monday."

"In 刑務所，拘置所?" she asked.

He shook his 長，率いる.

"If such things are 許すd that could have been arranged, but for some 推論する／理由 the Home 長官 辞退するs to 演習 his discretion in this 事柄, and has resolutely 辞退するd to 許す such a marriage to take place. He 反対するs on the ground of public 政策, and I dare say from his point of 見解（をとる） he is 権利. Meredith has a twenty-years 宣告，判決 to serve."

"Then how—" began Lydia.

"Let me tell this story more or いっそう少なく understandably," said Glover with that little smile of his. "Believe me, 行方不明になる Beale, I'm not so keen upon the 計画／陰謀 as I was. If by chance," he spoke deliberately, "we could get James Meredith into this house to-morrow morning, would you marry him?"

"Me?" she gasped. "Marry a man I've not seen—a 殺害者?"

"Not a 殺害者," he said gently.

"But it is preposterous, impossible!" she 抗議するd. "Why me?"

He was silent for a moment.

"When this 計画／陰謀 was 討議するd we looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する for some one to whom such a marriage would be of advantage," he said, speaking slowly. "It was Rennett's idea that we should search the 郡 法廷，裁判所 記録，記録的な／記録するs of London to discover if there was a girl who was in 緊急の need of money. There is no surer way of 明らかにするing 財政上の 骸骨／概要s than by searching 郡 法廷，裁判所 記録，記録的な／記録するs. We 設立する four, only one of whom was 適格の and that was you. Don't interrupt me for a moment, please," he said, raising his 手渡す warningly as she was about to speak. "We have made 徹底的な 調査s about you, too 徹底的な in fact, because the Briggerlands have smelt a ネズミ, and have been on our 追跡する for a week. We know that you are not engaged to be married, we know that you have a 公正に／かなり 激しい 重荷（を負わせる） of 負債s, and we know, too, that you are unencumbered by relations or friends. What we 申し込む／申し出 you, 行方不明になる Beale, and believe me I feel rather a cad in 存在 the medium through which the 申し込む／申し出 is made, is five thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs a year for the 残り／休憩（する） of your life, a sum of twenty thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs 負かす／撃墜する, and the 保証／確信 that you will not be troubled by your husband from the moment you are married."

Lydia listened like one in a dream. It did not seem real. She would wake up presently and find Mrs. Morgan with a cup of tea in her 手渡す and a plate of her indigestible cakes. Such things did not happen, she told herself, and yet here was a young man, standing with his 支援する to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, explaining in the most commonplace conversational トン, an 申し込む／申し出 which belonged 厳密に to the realm of romance, and not too 納得させるing romance at that.

"You've rather taken my breath away," she said after a while. "All this wants thinking about, and if Mr. Meredith is in 刑務所，拘置所—"

"Mr. Meredith is not in 刑務所，拘置所," said Glover 静かに. "He was 解放（する）d two days ago to go to a nursing home for a slight 操作／手術. He escaped from the nursing home last night and at this particular moment is in this house."

She could only 星／主役にする at him open-mouthed, and he went on.

"The Briggerlands know he has escaped; they probably thought he was here, because we have had a police visitation this afternoon, and the 内部の of the house and grounds have been searched. They know, of course, that Mr. Rennett and I were his 合法的な 助言者s, and we 推定する／予想するd them to come. How he escaped their 観察 is neither here nor there. Now, 行方不明になる Beale, what do you say?"

"I don't know what to say," she said, shaking her 長，率いる helplessly. "I know I'm dreaming, and if I had the moral courage to pinch myself hard, I should wake up. Somehow I don't want to wake, it is so fascinatingly impossible."

He smiled.

"Can I see Mr. Meredith?"

"Not till to-morrow. I might say that we've made every 協定 for your wedding, the licence has been 安全な・保証するd and at eight o'clock to- morrow morning—marriages before eight or after three are not 合法的な in this country, by the way—a clergyman will …に出席する and the 儀式 will be 成し遂げるd."

There was a long silence.

Lydia sat on the 辛勝する／優位 of her 議長，司会を務める, her 肘s on her 膝s, her 直面する in her 手渡すs.

Glover looked 負かす／撃墜する at her 本気で, pityingly, 悪口を言う／悪態ing himself that he was the exponent of his own grotesque 計画／陰謀. Presently she looked up.

"I think I will," she said a little wearily. "And you were wrong about the number of judgment summonses, there were seventy-five in two years—and I'm so tired of lawyers."

"Thank you," said Jack Glover politely.

CHAPTER IV

All night long she had sat in the little bedroom to which Mrs. Rennett had led her, thinking and thinking and thinking. She could not sleep, although she had tried hard, and most of the night she spent pacing up and 負かす／撃墜する from window to door turning over the amazing 状況／情勢 in which she 設立する herself. She had never thought of marriage 本気で, and really a marriage such as this 現在のd no terrors and might, had the 序幕 been a little いっそう少なく exciting, been 受託するd by her with 救済. The prospect of 存在 a wife in 指名する only, even the thought that her husband would be, for the next twenty years, behind 刑務所，拘置所 塀で囲むs, neither 苦しめるd nor horrified her. Somehow she 受託するd Glover's 声明 that Meredith was innocent, without 保留（地）／予約.

She wondered what Mrs. Morgan would say and what explanation she would give at the office. She was not 特に in love with her work, and it would be no wrench for her to 減少（する） it and give herself up to the serious 熟考する／考慮する of art. Five thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs a year! She could live in Italy, 熟考する／考慮する under the best masters, have a car of her own—the 可能性s seemed illimitable—and the disadvantages?

She shrugged her shoulders as she answered the question for the twentieth time. What disadvantages were there? She could not marry, but then she did not want to marry. She was not the 肉親，親類d to 落ちる in love, she told herself, she was too 独立した・無所属, too sophisticated, and understood men and their 証拠不十分s only too 井戸／弁護士席.

"The Lord designed me for an old maid," she said to herself.

At seven o'clock in the morning—a grey, cheerless morning it was, thought Lydia, looking out of the window—Mrs. Rennett （機の）カム in with some tea.

"I'm afraid you 港／避難所't slept, my dear," she said with a ちらりと見ること at the bed. "It's very trying for you."

She laid her 手渡す upon the girl's arm and squeezed it gently.

"And it's very trying for all of us," she said with a whimsical smile. "I 推定する／予想する we shall all get into fearful trouble."

That had occurred to the girl too, remembering the 暗い／優うつな picture which Glover had painted in the car.

"Won't this be very serious for you, if the 当局 find that you have connived at the escape?" she asked.

"Escape, my dear?" Mrs. Rennett's 直面する became a mask. "I have not heard anything of an escape. All that we know is that poor Mr. Meredith, 心配するing that the Home Office would 許す him to get married, had made 手はず／準備 for the marriage at this house. How Mr. Meredith comes here is やめる a 事柄 outside our knowledge," said the 外交の lady, and Lydia laughed in spite of herself.

She spent half an hour making herself presentable for the 来たるべき ordeal.

As a church clock struck eight, there （機の）カム another tap on the door. It was Mrs. Rennett again.

"They are waiting," she said. Her 直面する was a little pale and her lips trembled.

Lydia, however, was calmness itself, as she walked into the 製図／抽選- room ahead of her hostess.

There were four men. Glover and Rennett she knew. A third man wearing a clerical collar she guessed was the officiating priest, and all her attention was concentrated upon the fourth. He was a gaunt, unshaven man, his hair 削減（する） short, his 直面する and 人物／姿／数字 wasted, so that the 着せる／賦与するs he wore hung on him. Her first feeling was one of revulsion. Her second was an impulse of pity. James Meredith, for she guessed it was he, appeared wretchedly ill. He swung 一連の会議、交渉／完成する as she （機の）カム in, and looked at her intently, then, walking quickly に向かって her, he held out his thin 手渡す.

"行方不明になる Beale, isn't it?" he said. "I'm sorry to 会合，会う you under such unpleasant circumstances. Glover has explained everything, has he not?"

She nodded.

His 深い-始める，決める 注目する，もくろむs had a 磁石の 質 that fascinated her.

"You understand the 条件? Glover has told you just why this marriage must take place?" he said, lowering his 発言する／表明する. "Believe me, I am 深く，強烈に 感謝する to you for 落ちるing in with my wishes."

Without 予選 he walked over to where the parson stood.

"We will begin now," he said 簡単に.

The 儀式 seemed so unreal to the girl that she did not realise what it portended, not even when a （犯罪の）一味 (a loosely-fitting （犯罪の）一味, for Jack Glover had made the wildest guess at the size) was slipped over her finger. She knelt to receive the solemn benediction and then got slowly to her feet and looked at her husband strangely.

"I think I'm going to faint," she said.

It was Jack Glover who caught her and carried her to the sofa. She woke with a 混乱させるd idea that somebody was trying to hypnotise her, and she opened her 注目する，もくろむs to look upon the sombre 直面する of James Meredith.

"Better?" he asked anxiously. "I'm afraid you've had a trying time, and no sleep you said, Mrs. Rennett?"

Mrs. Rennett shook her 長，率いる.

"井戸／弁護士席, you'll sleep to-night better than I shall," he smiled, and then he turned to Rennett, a 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な and anxious man, who stood nervously 一打／打撃ing his little 耐えるd, watching the bridegroom. "Mr. Rennett," he said, "I must tell you in the presence of 証言，証人／目撃するs, that I have escaped from a nursing home to which I had been sent by the 温和／情状酌量 of the 国務長官. When I 知らせるd you that I had received 許可 to come to your house this morning to get married, I told you that which was not true."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Rennett politely. "And, of course, it is my 義務 to 手渡す you over to the police, Mr. Meredith." It was all part of the game. The girl watched the play, knowing that this scene was carefully rehearsed, ーするために absolve Rennett and his partner from complicity in the escape.

Rennett had hardly spoken when there was a loud ネズミ-tat at the 前線 door, and Jack Glover 急いでd into the hall to answer. But it was not the policeman he had 推定する／予想するd. It was a girl in a big sable coat, muffled up to her 注目する，もくろむs. She 押し進めるd past Jack, crossed the hall, and walked straight into the 製図／抽選-room.

Lydia, standing shakily by Mrs. Rennett's 味方する, saw the 訪問者 come in, and then, as she unfastened her coat, recognised her with a gasp. It was the beautiful girl she had seen in the 立ち往生させるs of the theatre the night before!

"And what can we do for you?" It was Glover's 発言する／表明する again, bland and bantering.

"I want Meredith," said the girl すぐに, and Glover chuckled.

"You have 手配中の，お尋ね者 Meredith for a long time, 行方不明になる Briggerland," he said, "and you're likely to want. You have arrived just a little too late."

The girl's 注目する，もくろむs fell upon the parson.

"Too late," she said slowly, "then he is married?"

She bit her red lips and nodded, then she looked at Lydia, and the blue 注目する，もくろむs were expressionless.

Meredith had disappeared. Lydia looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する for him in her 苦しめる, but he had gone. She wondered if he had gone out to the police, to make his 降伏する, and she was still wondering when there （機の）カム the sound of a 発射.

It was from the outside of the house, and at the sound Glover ran through the doorway, crossed the hall and flew into the open. It was still snowing, and there was no 調印する of any human 存在. He raced along a path which ran 平行の with the house, turned the corner and dived into a shrubbery. Here the snow had not laid, and he followed the garden path that 新たな展開d and turned through the 厚い laurel bushes and ended at a 概略で-built 道具 house. As he （機の）カム in sight of the shed he stopped.

A man lay on the ground, his arm 延長するd, his 長，率いる in a pool of 血, his grey 手渡す clutching a revolver.

Jack uttered an exclamation of horror and ran to the 味方する of the fallen man.

It was James Meredith, and he was dead.

CHAPTER V

Jack Glover heard footsteps coming 負かす／撃墜する the path, and turned to 会合，会う a man who had "探偵，刑事" written 大部分は all over him. Jack turned and looked 負かす／撃墜する again at the 団体／死体 as the man （機の）カム up.

"Who is this?" asked the officer はっきりと.

"It is James Meredith," said Jack 簡単に.

"Dead?" said the officer, startled. "He has committed 自殺!"

Jack did not reply, and watched the 視察官 as he made his 簡潔な／要約する, quick examination of the 団体／死体. A 弾丸 had entered just below the left 寺, and there was a 示す of 砕く 近づく the 直面する.

"A very bad 商売／仕事, Mr. Glover," said the police officer 本気で. "Can you account for this man 存在 here?"

"He （機の）カム to get married," said Jack listlessly. "I dare say that startles you, but it is the fact. He was married いっそう少なく than ten minutes ago. If you will come up to the house I will explain his presence here."

The 探偵，刑事 hesitated, but just then another of his comrades （機の）カム on the scene, and Jack led the way 支援する to the house through a 支援する door into Rennett's 熟考する／考慮する.

The lawyer was waiting for them, and he was alone.

"If I'm not very much mistaken, you're 視察官 Colhead, of Scotland Yard," said Glover.

"That is my 指名する," nodded the officer. "Between ourselves, Mr. Glover, I don't think I should make any 声明 which you are not 用意が出来ている to 立証する 公然と."

Jack 公式文書，認めるd the significance of the 警告 with a little smile, and proceeded to tell the story of the wedding.

"I can only tell you," he said in answer to a その上の 調査, "that Mr. Meredith （機の）カム into this house at a ４半期/4分の1 to eight this morning, and 降伏するd himself to my partner. At eight o'clock 正確に／まさに, as you are 井戸／弁護士席 aware, Mr. Rennett telephoned to Scotland Yard to say that Mr. Meredith was here. During the period of his waiting he was married."

"Did a parson happen to be staying here, sir?" asked the police officer sarcastically.

"He happened to be staying here," said Jack calmly, "because I had arranged for him to be here. I knew that if it was humanly possible, Mr. Meredith would come to this house, and that his 願望（する） was to be married, for 推論する／理由s which my partner will explain."

"Did you help him to escape? That is asking you a 主要な question," smiled the 探偵，刑事.

Jack shook his 長，率いる.

"I can answer you with perfect truth that I did not, any more than the Home 長官 helped him when he gave him 許可 to go to a nursing home."

Soon after the 探偵，刑事 returned to the shed, and Jack and his partner were left alone.

"井戸／弁護士席?" said Rennett, in a shaking 発言する／表明する, "what happened?"

"He's dead," said Jack 静かに.

"自殺?"

Jack looked at him oddly.

"Did Bulford commit 自殺?" he asked.

"Where is the angel?"

"I left her in the 製図／抽選-room with Mrs. Rennett and 行方不明になる Beale."

"Mrs. Meredith," 訂正するd Jack 静かに.

"This 複雑にするs 事柄s," said Rennett, "but I think we can get out of our 株 of the trouble, though it is going to look a little 黒人／ボイコット."

They 設立する the three women in the 製図／抽選-room. Lydia, looking very white, （機の）カム to 会合，会う them.

"What happened?" she asked, and then she guessed from his 直面する. "He's not dead?" she gasped.

Jack nodded. All the time his 注目する，もくろむs were on the other girl. Her beautiful lips were drooped a little. There was a look of 苦痛 and 悲しみ in her 注目する，もくろむs that caught his breath.

"Did he shoot himself?" she asked in a low 発言する／表明する.

Jack regarded her coldly.

"The only thing that I am 確かな about," and Lydia winced at the cruelty in his 発言する／表明する, "is that you did not shoot him, 行方不明になる Briggerland."

"How dare you!" 炎上d ジーンズ Briggerland. The quick 紅潮／摘発する that （機の）カム to her cheek was the only other 証拠 of emotion she betrayed.

"I dare say a lot," said Jack curtly. "You asked me if it is a 事例／患者 of 自殺, and I tell you that it is not—it is a 事例／患者 of 殺人. James Meredith was 設立する with a revolver clutched in his 権利 手渡す. He was 発射 through the left 寺, and if you'll explain to me how any man, 持つ／拘留するing a ピストル in a normal way, can 成し遂げる that feat, I will 受託する your theory of 自殺."

There was a dead silence.

"Besides," Jack went on, with a little shrug, "poor Jimmy had no ピストル."

ジーンズ Briggerland had dropped her 注目する，もくろむs, and stood there with downcast 長，率いる and compressed lips. Presently she looked up.

"I know how you feel, Mr. Glover," she said gently. "I can 井戸／弁護士席 understand, believing such dreadful things about me as you do, that you must hate me."

Her mouth quivered and her 発言する／表明する grew husky with 悲しみ.

"I loved James Meredith," she said, "and he loved me."

"He loved you 井戸／弁護士席 enough to marry somebody else," said Jack Glover, and Lydia was shocked.

"Mr. Glover," she said reproachfully, "do you think it is 権利 to say these things, with poor Mr. Meredith lying dead?"

He turned slowly toward her, and she saw in his humorous 注目する，もくろむs a hardness that she had not seen before.

"行方不明になる Briggerland has told us that I hate her," he said in an even 発言する／表明する, "and she spoke nothing but the truth. I hate her perhaps beyond understanding—Mrs. Meredith." He 強調d the words, and the girl winced. "And one day, if the Circumstantialists spare me—"

"The Circumstantialists," said ジーンズ Briggerland slowly. "I don't やめる understand you."

Jack Glover laughed, and it was not a pleasant laugh.

"Perhaps you will," he said すぐに. "As to your loving poor Jim —井戸／弁護士席, you know best. I am trying to be polite to you, 行方不明になる Briggerland, and not to gloat over the fact that you arrived too late to stop this wedding! And shall I tell you why you arrived too late?" His 注目する，もくろむs were laughing again. "It was because I had arranged with the vicar of St. Peter's to be here at nine o'clock this morning, 井戸／弁護士席 knowing that you and your little army of 秘かに調査するs would discover the hour of the wedding, and would take care to be here before. And then I 内密に sent for an old Oxford friend of 地雷 to be here at eight—he was here last night."

Still she stood regarding him without 明白な 証拠 of the 怒り／怒る which Lydia thought would have been 正当化するd.

"I had no 願望（する） to stop the wedding," said the girl, in a low, soft 発言する／表明する. "If Jim preferred to be married in this way to somebody who does not know him, I can only 受託する his choice." She turned to the girl and held out her 手渡す. "I am very sorry that this 悲劇 has come to you, Mrs. Meredith," she said. "May I wish you a greater happiness than any you have 設立する?"

Lydia was touched by the 誠実, 傷つける a little by Glover's uncouthness, and could only 温かく 支配する the little 手渡す that was held out to her.

"I'm sorry too," she said a little unsteadily. "For you more than for—anything else."

The girl lowered her 注目する，もくろむs and again her lips quivered, and then without a word she walked out of the room, pulling her sable 包む about her throat.

It was noon before Rennett's car deposited Lydia Meredith at the door of her 宿泊するing.

She 設立する Mrs. Morgan in a 広大な／多数の／重要な 明言する／公表する of 苦悩, and the stout little woman almost shed 涙／ほころびs of joy at the sight of her.

"Oh, 行方不明になる, you've no idea how worried I've been," she babbled, "and they've been 一連の会議、交渉／完成する here from your newspaper office asking where you are. I thought you had been run over or something, and the Daily Megaphonehave sent to all the hospitals—"

"I have been run over," said Lydia wearily. "My poor mind has been under the wheels of a dozen モーター-buses, and my soul has been in a hundred 衝突／不一致s."

Mrs. Morgan gaped at her. She had no sense of metaphor.

"It's all 権利, Mrs. Morgan," laughed her lodger over her shoulder as she went up the stairs. "I 港／避難所't really you know, only I've had a worrying time—and by the way, my 指名する is Meredith."

Mrs. Morgan 崩壊（する）d on to a hall 議長，司会を務める.

"Meredith, 行方不明になる?" she said incredulously. "Why I knew your father—"

"I've been married, that's all," said Lydia grimly. "You told me yesterday that I should be married romantically, but even in the wildest flights of your imagination, Mrs. Morgan, you could never have supposed that I should be married in such a violent, desperate way. I'm going to bed." She paused on the 上陸 and looked 負かす／撃墜する at the dumbfounded woman. "If anybody calls for me, I am not at home. Oh, yes, you can tell the Megaphone that I （機の）カム home very late and that I've gone to bed, and I'll call to-morrow to explain."

"But, 行方不明になる," stammered the woman, "your husband—"

"My husband is dead," said the girl calmly. She felt a brute, but somehow she could not raise any 公式文書，認める of 悲しみ. "And if that lawyer man comes, will you please tell him that I shall have twenty thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs in the morning," and with that last staggering 声明, she went to her room, leaving her landlady speechless.

CHAPTER VI

The police search of the house and grounds at Dulwich Grange, Mr. Rennett's 住居, 占領するd the whole of the morning, and neither Rennett's nor Jack's 援助 was 招待するd or 申し込む／申し出d.

Before 昼食 視察官 Colhead （機の）カム to the 熟考する／考慮する.

"We've had a good look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する your place, Mr. Rennett," he said, "and I think we know where the 死んだ hid himself."

"Indeed!" said Mr. Rennett.

"That hut of yours in the garden is used, I suppose, for a 道具 house. There are no 道具s there now, and one of my men discovered that you can pull up the whole of the 床に打ち倒す, it 作品 on a hinge and is balanced with 反対する-負わせるs."

Mr. Rennett nodded.

"I believe it was used as a ワイン cellar by a former tenant of the house," he said coolly. "We have no cellars at the Grange, you know. I do not drink ワイン, and I've never had occasion to use it."

"That's where he was hidden. We 設立する a 一面に覆う／毛布, and pillows, 負かす／撃墜する there, and, as you say, it has 明白に been a ワイン cellar, because there is a ventilating 軸 主要な up into the bushes. We should never have 設立する the 罠（にかける）, but one of my men felt one of the corners of the 床に打ち倒す give under his feet."

The two men said nothing.

"Another thing," the 探偵，刑事 went on slowly, "is that I'm inclined to agree that Meredith did not commit 自殺. We 設立する footmarks, やめる fresh, 主要な 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to the 支援する of the hut."

"A big foot or a little foot?" asked Jack quickly.

"It is rather a big foot," said the 探偵，刑事, "and it has rubber heels. We traced it to a gate at the 支援する of your 前提s, and the gate has been opened recently—probably by Mr. Meredith when he （機の）カム to the house. It's a queer 事例／患者, Mr. Rennett."

"What is the ピストル?"

"That's new too," said Colhead. "ベルギー make and impossible to trace, I should imagine. You can't keep 跡をつける of these ベルギー 武器s. You can buy them in any shop in any town in Ostend or Brussels, and I don't think it is the practice for the 販売人s to keep any 記録，記録的な／記録する of the numbers."

"In fact," said Jack 静かに, "it is the same 肉親，親類d of ピストル that killed Bulford."

Colhead raised his eyebrows.

"So it was, but wasn't it 設立するd that that was Mr. Meredith's own 武器?"

Jack shook his 長，率いる.

"The only thing that was 設立するd was that he had seen the 団体／死体 and he 選ぶd up the ピストル which was lying 近づく the dead man. The 発射 was 解雇する／砲火／射撃d as he opened the door of Mr. Briggerland's house. Then he saw the 人物／姿／数字 on the pavement and 選ぶd up the ピストル. He was in that position when 行方不明になる Briggerland, who 証言するd against him, （機の）カム out of the house and saw him."

The 探偵，刑事 nodded.

"I had nothing to do with the 事例／患者," he said, "but I remember seeing the 武器, and it was 同一の with this. I'll talk to the 長，指導者 and let you know what he says about the whole 事件／事情／状勢. You'll have to give 証拠 at the 検死 of course."

When he had gone the two men looked at one another.

"井戸／弁護士席, Rennett, do you think we're going to get into hot water, or are we going to perjure our way to safety?"

"There's no need for 偽証, not serious 偽証," said the other carefully. "By the way, Jack, where was Briggerland the night Bulford was 殺人d?"

"When 行方不明になる ジーンズ Briggerland had 回復するd from her horror, she went upstairs and 誘発するd her father, who, にもかかわらず the 早期に hour, was in bed and asleep. When the police （機の）カム, or rather, when the 探偵，刑事 in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the 事例／患者 arrived, which must have been some time after the policeman on point 義務 put in an 外見, Mr. Briggerland was discovered in a picturesque dressing gown and, I 推定する, no いっそう少なく picturesque pyjamas."

"Horrified, too, I suppose," said Rennett dryly.

Jack was silent for a long time. Then: "Rennett," he said, "do you know I am more 動揺させるd about this girl than I am about any consequences to ourselves."

"Which girl are you talking about?"

"About Mrs. Meredith. Whilst poor Meredith was alive she was in no particular danger. But do you realise that what were advantages from our point of 見解（をとる）, すなわち, the fact that she had no relations in the world, are to-day a source of かなりの 危険，危なくする to this unfortunate lady?"

"I had forgotten that," said Rennett thoughtfully. "What makes 事柄s a little more 複雑にするd, is the will which Meredith made this morning before he was married."

Jack whistled.

"Did he make a will?" he said in surprise.

His partner nodded.

"You remember he was here with me for half an hour. 井戸／弁護士席, he 主張するd upon 令状ing out a will and my wife and Bolton, the butler, 証言，証人／目撃するd it."

"And he has left his money—?"

"To his wife 絶対," replied the other. "The poor old chap was so frantically keen on keeping the money out of the Briggerland exchequer, that he was 用意が出来ている to ゆだねる the whole of his money to a girl he had not seen."

Jack was serious now.

"And the Briggerlands are her 相続人s? Do you realise that, Rennett —there's going to be hell!"

Mr. Rennett nodded.

"I thought that too," he said 静かに.

Jack sank 負かす／撃墜する in a seat, his 直面する screwed up into a hideous frown, and the 年上の man did not interrupt his thoughts. Suddenly Jack's 直面する （疑いを）晴らすd and he smiled.

"Jaggs!" he said softly.

"Jaggs?" repeated his puzzled partner.

"Jaggs," said Jack, nodding, "he's the fellow. We've got to 会合，会う 戦略 with 戦略, Rennett, and Jaggs is the boy to do it."

Mr. Rennett looked at him helplessly.

"Could Jaggs get us out of our trouble too?" he asked sarcastically.

"He could even do that," replied Jack.

"Then bring him along, for I have an idea he'll have the time of his life."

CHAPTER VII

行方不明になる ジーンズ Briggerland reached her home in Berkeley Street soon after nine o'clock. She did not （犯罪の）一味, but let herself in with a 重要な and went straight to the dining-room, where her father sat eating his breakfast, with a newspaper propped up before him.

He was the dark-skinned man whom Lydia had seen at the theatre, and he looked up over his gold-rimmed spectacles as the girl （機の）カム in.

"You have been out very 早期に," he said.

She did not reply, but slowly divesting herself of her sable coat she threw it on to a 議長，司会を務める, took off the toque that graced her shapely 長，率いる, and flung it after the coat. Then she drew out a 議長，司会を務める, and sat 負かす／撃墜する at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, her chin on her palms, her blue 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd upon her parent.

Nature had so favoured her that her 直面する needed no 人工的な embellishment—the 肌 was （疑いを）晴らす and 罰金 of texture, and the 冷淡な morning had brought only a faint pink to the beautiful 直面する.

"井戸／弁護士席, my dear," Mr. Briggerland looked up and beamed through his glasses, "so poor Meredith has committed 自殺?"

She did not speak, keeping her 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on him.

"Very sad, very sad," Mr. Briggerland shook his 長，率いる.

"How did it happen?" she asked 静かに.

Mr. Briggerland shrugged his shoulders.

"I suppose at the sight of you he bolted 支援する to his hiding place where—er—had been 位置を示すd by—er—利益／興味d persons during the night, then seeing me by the shed—he committed the 無分別な and 致命的な 行為／法令／行動する. Somehow I thought he would run 支援する to his dug-out."

"And you were 用意が出来ている for him?" she said.

He smiled.

"A （疑いを）晴らす 事例／患者 of 自殺, my dear," he said.

"発射 through the left 寺, and the ピストル was 設立する in his 権利 手渡す," said the girl.

Mr. Briggerland started.

"Damn it," he said. "Who noticed that?"

"That good-looking young lawyer, Glover."

"Did the police notice?"

"I suppose they did when Glover called their attention to the fact," said the girl.

Mr. Briggerland took off his glasses and wiped them.

"It was done in such a hurry—I had to get 支援する through the garden gate to join the police. When I got there, I 設立する they'd been attracted by the 発射 and had entered the house. Still, nobody would know I was in the garden, and anyway my 協会 with the 逮捕（する） of an escaped 罪人／有罪を宣告する would not get into the newspapers."

"But a 事例／患者 of 自殺 would," said the girl. "Though I don't suppose the police will give away the person who 知らせるd them that James Meredith would be at Dulwich Grange."

Mr. Briggerland sat 支援する in his 議長，司会を務める, his 厚い lips pursed, and he was not a beautiful sight.

"One can't remember everything," he 不平（をいう）d.

He rose from his 議長，司会を務める, went to the door, and locked it. Then he crossed to a bureau, pulled open a drawer and took out a small revolver. He threw out the cylinder, ちらりと見ることd along the バーレル／樽 and the 議会s to make sure it was not 負担d, then clicked it 支援する in position, and standing before a glass, he endeavoured, the ピストル in his 権利 手渡す, to bring the muzzle to 耐える on his left 寺. He 設立する this impossible, and 示す his annoyance with a grunt. Then he tried the ピストル with his thumb on the 誘発する／引き起こす and his 手渡す clasping the 支援する of the butt. Here he was more successful.

"That's it," he said with satisfaction. "It could have been done that way."

She did not shudder at the dreadful sight, but watched him with the keenest 利益／興味, her chin still in the palm of her 手渡す. He might have been explaining a new way of serving a tennis ball, for all the emotion he evoked.

Mr. Briggerland （機の）カム 支援する to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, toyed with a piece of toast and buttered it leisurely.

"Everybody is going to Cannes this year," he said, "but I think I shall stick to Monte Carlo. There is a 静かな about Monte Carlo which is very restful, 特に if one can get a 郊外住宅 on the hill away from the 鉄道. I told Morden yesterday to take the new car across and 会合，会う us at Boulogne. He says that the new 団体／死体 is exquisite. There is a micraphonic attachment for telephoning to the driver, the 電気の heating apparatus is splendid and—"

"Meredith was married."

If she had thrown a 爆弾 at him she could not have produced a more tremendous sensation. He gaped at her, and 押し進めるd himself 支援する from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"Married?" His 発言する／表明する was a squeak.

She nodded.

"It's a 嘘（をつく）," he roared. All his suavity dropped away from him, his 直面する was distorted and puckered with 怒り／怒る and grew a shade darker. "Married, you lying little beast! He couldn't have been married! It was only a few minutes after eight, and the parson didn't come till nine. I'll break your neck if you try to 脅す me! I've told you about that before... "

He raved on, and she listened unmoved.

"He was married at eight o'clock by a man they brought 負かす／撃墜する from Oxford, and who stayed the night in the house," she repeated with 広大な／多数の／重要な calmness. "There's no sense in 攻撃するing yourself into a 激怒（する）. I've seen the bride, and spoken to the clergyman."

From the いじめ（る）ing, 激怒（する）ing madman, he became a whimpering, pitiable thing. His chin trembled, the big 手渡すs he laid on the tablecloth shook with a fever.

"What are we going to do?" he wailed. "My God, ジーンズ, what are we going to do?"

She rose and went to the sideboard, 注ぐd out a stiff dose of brandy from a decanter and brought it across to him without a word. She was used to these tantrums, and to their 必然的な ending. She was neither 傷つける, surprised, nor disgusted. This pale, ethereal 存在 was the 支配的な partner of the combination. 神経s she did not 所有する, 恐れるs she did not know. She had acquired the 正確な sense of a 広大な／多数の／重要な 外科医 in whom pity was a detached emotion, and one which never intruded itself into the operating 議会. She was no more phenomenal than they, save that she did not feel bound by the 条約s and 法律s which 治める／統治する them as members of an ordered society. It 要求するs no greater 神経 to 殺す than to cure. She had had that 事柄 out with herself, and had settled it to her own satisfaction.

"You will have to put off your trip to Monte Carlo," she said, as he drank the brandy greedily.

"We've lost everything now," he stuttered, "everything."

"This girl has no relations," said the daughter 刻々と. "Her 相続人s- at-法律 are ourselves."

He put 負かす／撃墜する the glass, and looked at her, and became almost すぐに his old self.

"My dear," he said admiringly, "you are really wonderful. Of course, it was childish of me. Now what do you 示唆する?"

"打ち明ける that door," she said in a low 発言する／表明する, "I want to call the maid."

As he walked to the door, she 圧力（をかける）d the footbell, and soon after the faded woman who …に出席するd her （機の）カム into the room.

"Hart," she said, "I want you to find my emerald （犯罪の）一味, the small one, the little pearl necklet, and the diamond scarf pin. Pack them carefully in a box with cotton wool."

"Yes, madam," said the woman, and went out.

"Now what are you going to do, ジーンズ?" asked her father.

"I am returning them to Mrs. Meredith," said the girl coolly. "They were 現在のs given to me by her husband, and I feel after this 悲劇の ending of my dream that I can no longer 耐える the sight of them."

"He didn't give you those things, he gave you the chain. Besides, you are throwing away good money?"

"I know he never gave them to me, and I am not throwing away good money," she said 根気よく. "Mrs. Meredith will return them, and she will give me an 適切な時期 of throwing a little light upon James Meredith, an 適切な時期 which I very much 願望（する）."

Later she went up to her pretty little sitting-room on the first 床に打ち倒す, and wrote a letter.

"Dear Mrs. Meredith.—I am sending you the few trinkets which James gave to me in happier days. They are all that I have of his, and you, as a woman, will realise that whilst the 所有／入手 of them brings me many unhappy memories, yet they have been a 確かな 慰安 to me. I wish I could 配置する／処分する／したい気持ちにさせる of memory as easily as I send these to you (for I feel they are really your 所有物／資産／財産) but more do I wish that I could 解任する and obliterate the occasion which has made Mr. Glover so bitter an enemy of 地雷.

"Thinking over the past, I see that I was at fault, but I know that you will sympathise with me when the truth is 明らかにする／漏らすd to you. A young girl, 未使用の to the ways of men, perhaps I 大（公）使館員d too much importance to Mr. Glover's attentions, and resented them too crudely. In those days I thought it was unpardonable that a man who professed to be poor James's best friend, should make love to his fiancée, though I suppose that such things happen, and are 耐えるd by the modern girl. A man does not readily 許す a woman for making him feel a fool—it is the one unpardonable offence that a girl can commit. Therefore, I do not resent his 敵意 as much as you might think. Believe me, I feel for you very much in these trying days. Let me say again that I hope your 未来 will be 有望な."

She blotted the letter, put it in an envelope, and 演説（する）／住所d it, and taking 負かす／撃墜する a 調書をとる／予約する from one of the 井戸／弁護士席-在庫／株d 棚上げにするs, drew her 議長，司会を務める to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, and began reading.

Mr. Briggerland （機の）カム in an hour after, looked over her shoulder at the 肩書を与える, and made a sound of 不賛成.

"I can't understand your liking for that 肉親，親類d of 調書をとる／予約する," he said.

The 調書をとる／予約する was one of the two 容積／容量s of "Chronicles of 罪，犯罪," and she looked up with a smile.

"Can't you? It's very easily explained. It is the most encouraging work in my collection. Sit 負かす／撃墜する for a minute."

"A 記録，記録的な／記録する of vulgar 犯罪のs," he growled. "Their infernal last dying speeches, their 行列s to Tyburn—phaugh!"

She smiled again, and looked 負かす／撃墜する at the 調書をとる／予約する. The wide 利ざやs were covered with pencilled 公式文書，認めるs in her 令状ing.

"They're a splendid mental 演習," she said. "In every 事例／患者 I have written 負かす／撃墜する how the 犯罪の might have escaped 逮捕（する）, but they were all so vulgar, and so stupid. Really the police of the time deserve no credit for catching them. It is the same with modern 犯罪のs... "

She went to the shelf, and took 負かす／撃墜する two large 捨てる-調書をとる／予約するs, carried them across to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, and opened one on her 膝s.

"Vulgar and stupid, every one of them," she repeated, as she turned the leaves 速く.

"The clever ones get caught at times," said Briggerland gloomily.

"Never," she said, and の近くにd the 調書をとる／予約する with a snap. "In England, in フラン, in America, and in almost every civilised country, there are 殺害者s walking about to-day, 尊敬（する）・点d by their fellow 国民s. 殺害者s, of whose 罪，犯罪s the police are ignorant. Look at these." She opened the 調書をとる／予約する again. "Here is the 事例／患者 of Rell, who 毒（薬）s a troublesome creditor with 少しのd-殺し屋. Everybody in the town knew he bought the 少しのd-殺し屋; everybody knew that he was in 負債 to this man. What chance had he of escaping? Here's Jewelville—he kills his wife, buries her in the cellar, and then calls attention to himself by running away. Here's Morden, who kills his sister-in-法律 for the sake of her 保険 money, and who also buys the 毒（薬） in 幅の広い daylight, and is 設立する with a 瓶／封じ込める in his pocket. Such people deserve hanging."

"I wish to heaven you wouldn't talk about hanging," said Briggerland tremulously, "you're 残忍な, ジーンズ, by God—"

"I'm an angel," she smiled, "and I have 圧力（をかける） cuttings to 証明する it! The Daily Recorder had half a column on my 外見 in the box at Jim's 裁判，公判."

He looked over toward the 令状ing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, saw the letter, and 選ぶd it up.

"So you've written to the lady. Are you sending her the jewels?"

She nodded.

He looked at her quickly.

"You 港／避難所't been up to any funny 商売／仕事 with them, have you?" he asked suspiciously, and she smiled.

"My dear parent," drawled ジーンズ Briggerland, "after my lecture on the stupidity of the 普通の／平均（する） 犯罪の, do you imagine I should do anything so gauche?"

CHAPTER VIII

"And now, Mrs. Meredith," said Jack Glover, "what are you going to do?"

He had spent the greater part of the morning with the new heiress, and Lydia had listened, speechless, as he recited a long and meaningless 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of 安全s, of 広い地所s, of ground rents, balances and the like, which she had 相続するd.

"What am I going to do?" she said, shaking her 長，率いる, hopelessly. "I don't know. I 港／避難所't the slightest idea, Mr. Glover. It is so bewildering. Do I understand that all this 所有物／資産／財産 is 地雷?"

"Not yet," said Jack with a smile, "but it is so much yours that on the strength of the will we are willing to 前進する you money to almost any extent. The will has to be 証明するd, and probate must be taken, but when these 合法的な 形式順守s are settled, and we have paid the very 激しい death 義務s, you will be する権利を与えるd to 配置する／処分する／したい気持ちにさせる of your fortune as you wish. As a 事柄 of fact," he 追加するd, "you could do that now. At any 率, you cannot live here in Brinksome Street, and I have taken the liberty of 雇うing a furnished flat on your に代わって. One of our （弁護士の）依頼人s has gone away to the Continent and left the flat for me to 配置する／処分する／したい気持ちにさせる of. The rent is very low, about twenty guineas a week."

"Twenty guineas a week!" gasped the horrified girl, "why, I can't—"

And then she realised that she "could."

Twenty guineas a week was as nothing to her. This fact more than anything else, brought her to an understanding of her fortune.

"I suppose I had better move," she said dubiously. "Mrs. Morgan is giving up this house, and she asked me whether I had any 計画（する）s. I think she'd be willing to come as my housekeeper."

"Excellent," nodded Jack. "You'll want a maid 同様に and, of course, you will have to put up Jaggs for the nights."

"Jaggs?" she said in astonishment.

"Jaggs," repeated Jack solemnly. "You see, 行方不明になる—I beg your 容赦, Mrs. Meredith, I'm rather 関心d about you, and I want you to have somebody on 手渡す I can rely on, sleeping in your flat at night. I dare say you think I am an old woman," he said as he saw her smile, "and that my 恐れるs are groundless, but you will agree that your own experience of last week will support the theory that anything may happen in London."

"But really, Mr. Glover, you don't mean that I am in any serious danger—from whom?"

"From a lot of people," he said 外交上.

"From poor 行方不明になる Briggerland?" she challenged, and his 注目する，もくろむs 狭くするd.

"Poor 行方不明になる Briggerland," he said softly. "She certainly is poorer than she 推定する／予想するd to be."

"Nonsense," scoffed the girl. She was irritated, which was unusual in her. "My dear Mr. Glover, why do you 追求する your vendetta against her? Do you think it is playing the game, honestly now? Isn't it a 事例／患者 of 負傷させるd vanity on your part?"

He 星／主役にするd at her in astonishment.

"負傷させるd vanity? Do you mean pique?"

She nodded.

"Why should I be piqued?" he asked slowly.

"You know best," replied Lydia, and then a light 夜明けd on him.

"Have I been making love to 行方不明になる Briggerland by any chance?" he asked.

"You know best," she repeated.

"Good Lord!" and then he began to laugh, and she thought he would never stop.

"I suppose I made love to her, and she was angry because I dared to commit such an 行為／法令／行動する of treachery to her fiancé! Yes, that was it. I made love to her behind poor Jim's 支援する, and she 'ticked me off,' and that's why I'm so annoyed with her?"

"You have a very good memory," said Lydia, with a scornful little smile.

"My memory isn't as good as 行方不明になる Briggerland's 力／強力にする of 発明," said Jack. "Doesn't it strike you, Mrs. Meredith, that if I had made love to that young lady, I should not be seen here to-day?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean," said Jack Glover soberly, "that it would not have been Bulford, but I, who would have been 誘惑するd from his club by a telephone message, and told to wait outside the door in Berkeley Street. It would have been I, who would have been 発射 dead by 行方不明になる Briggerland's father from the 製図／抽選-room window."

The girl looked at him in amazement.

"What a preposterous 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 to make!" she said at last indignantly. "Do you 示唆する that this girl has connived at a 殺人?"

"I not only 示唆する that she connived at it, but I 火刑／賭ける my life that she planned it," said Jack carefully.

"But the ピストル was 設立する 近づく Mr. Bulford's 団体／死体," said Lydia almost triumphantly, as she conceived this unanswerable argument.

Jack nodded.

"From Bulford's 団体／死体 to the 製図／抽選-room window was 正確に／まさに nine feet. It was possible to pitch the ピストル so that it fell 近づく him. Bulford was waiting there by the 指示／教授／教育s of ジーンズ Briggerland. We have traced the telephone call that （機の）カム through to him from the club—it （機の）カム from the Briggerlands' house in Berkeley Street, and the attendant at the club was sure it was a woman's 発言する／表明する. We didn't find that out till after the 裁判，公判. Poor Meredith was in the hall when the 発射 was 解雇する／砲火／射撃d. The signal was given when he turned the 扱う to let himself out. He heard the 発射, 急ぐd 負かす／撃墜する the steps and saw the 団体／死体. Whether he 選ぶd up the ピストル or not, I do not know. ジーンズ Briggerland 断言するs he had it in his 手渡す, but, of course, ジーンズ Briggerland is a hopeless liar!"

"You can't know what you're 説," said Lydia in a low 発言する／表明する. "It is a dreadful 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 to make, dreadful, against a girl whose very 直面する 反駁するs such an 告訴，告発."

"Her 直面する is her fortune," snapped Jack, and then penitently, "I'm sorry I'm rude, but somehow the very について言及する of ジーンズ Briggerland 誘発するs all that is worst in me. Now, you will 受託する Jaggs, won't you?"

"Who is he?" she asked.

"He is an old army pensioner. A weird bird, as shrewd as the dickens, in spite of his age a pretty powerful old fellow."

"Oh, he's old," she said with some 救済.

"He's old, and in some ways, incapacitated. He hasn't the use of his 権利 arm, and he's a bit groggy in one of his ankles as the result of a Boer 弾丸."

She laughed in spite of herself.

"He doesn't sound a very attractive 肉親，親類d of 後見人. He's a perfectly clean old bird, though I 自白する he doesn't look it, and he won't bother you or your servants. You can give him a room where he can sit, and you can give him a bit of bread and cheese, and a glass of beer, and he'll not bother you."

Lydia was amused now. It was absurd that Jack Glover should imagine she needed a 後見人 at all, but if he 主張するd, as he did, it would be better to have somebody as 害のない as the unattractive Jaggs.

"What time will he come?"

"At about ten o'clock every night, and he'll leave you at about seven in the morning. Unless you wish, you need never see him," said Jack.

"How did you come to know him?" she asked curiously.

"I know everybody," said the boastful young man, "you mustn't forget that I am a lawyer and have to 会合，会う very queer people."

He gathered up his papers and put them into his little 捕らえる、獲得する.

"And now what are your 計画（する）s for to-day?" he 需要・要求するd.

She resented the self-課すd guardianship which he had undertaken, yet she could not forget what she 借りがあるd him.

By some 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の means he had kept her out of the Meredith 事例／患者 and she had not been called as a 証言，証人／目撃する at the 検死. Incidentally, in as mysterious a way he had managed to whitewash his partner and himself, although the 法律 Society were 持つ／拘留するing an 調査 of their own (this the girl did not know) it seemed likely that he would escape the consequence of an 行為／法令／行動する which was a 極悪の 違反 of the 法律.

"I am going to Mrs. Cole-Mortimer's to tea," she said.

"Mrs. Cole-Mortimer?" he said quickly. "How do you come to know that lady?"

"Really, Mr. Glover, you are almost impertinent," she smiled in spite of her annoyance. "She （機の）カム to call on me two or three days after that dreadful morning. She knew Mr. Meredith and was an old friend of the family's."

"As a 事柄 of fact," said Jack icily, "she did not know Meredith, except to say 'how-do-you-do' to him, and she was certainly not a friend of the family. She is, however, a friend of ジーンズ Briggerland."

"ジーンズ Briggerland!" said the exasperated girl. "Can't you forget her? You are like the man in Dickens's 調書をとる／予約するs—she's your King Charles's 長，率いる! Really, for a respectable and a responsible lawyer, you're 簡単に eaten up with prejudices. Of course, she was a friend of Mr. Meredith's. Why, she brought me a photograph of him taken when he was at Eton."

"供給（する）d by ジーンズ Briggerland," said the unperturbed Jack calmly, "and if she'd brought you a pair of socks he wore when he was a baby I suppose you would have 受託するd those too."

"Now you are 存在 really abominable," said the girl, "and I've got a lot to do."

He paused at the door.

"Don't forget you can move into Cavendish Mansions to-morrow. I'll send the 重要な 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, and the day you move in, Jaggs will turn up for 義務, 有望な and smiling. He doesn't talk a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定—"

"I don't suppose you ever give the poor man a chance," she said cuttingly.

CHAPTER IX

Mrs. Cole-Mortimer was a 代表者／国会議員 of a 非常に／多数の class of women who live so の近くに to the 国境-line which separates good society from society which is not やめる as good, that the members of either 始める，決める thought she was in the other. She had a small house where she gave big parties, and nobody やめる knew how this 未亡人 of an Indian 陸軍大佐 made both ends 会合，会う. It was the fact that her menage was an expensive one to 持続する; she had a car, she entertained in London in the season, and disappeared from the metropolis when it was the 訂正する thing to disappear, a season of 追放する which comes between the Goodwood Race 会合 in the south and the Doncaster Race 会合 in the north.

Lydia had been surprised to receive a visit from this elegant lady, and had readily 受託するd the story of her friendship with James Meredith. Mrs. Cole-Mortimer's 招待 she had welcomed. She needed some distraction, something which would smooth out the ravelled threads of life which were now even more 絡まるd than she had ever 推定する／予想するd they could be.

Mr. Rennett had 手渡すd to her a thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs the day after the wedding, and when she had 回復するd from the shock of 所有するing such a large sum, she 雇うd a taxicab and indulged herself in a wild orgy of shopping.

The 救済 she experienced when he 知らせるd her he was taking 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of her 事件／事情／状勢s and settling the 負債s which had worried her for three years was so 広大な／多数の／重要な that she felt as though a 激しい 負わせる had been 解除するd from her heart.

It was in one of her new frocks that Lydia, feeling more 確信して than usual, made her call. She had 推定する／予想するd to find a （人が）群がる at the house in Hyde Park 三日月, and she was surprised when she was 勧めるd into the 製図／抽選-room to find only four people 現在の.

Mrs. Cole-Mortimer was a chirpy, pale little woman of forty- something. It would be ungallant to say how much that "something" 代表するd. She （機の）カム toward Lydia with outstretched 手渡すs.

"My dear," she said with extravagant 楽しみ, "I am glad you were able to come. You know 行方不明になる Briggerland and Mr. Briggerland?"

Lydia looked up at the tall 人物／姿／数字 of the man she had seen in the 立ち往生させるs the night before her wedding and recognised him 即時に.

"Mr. Marcus Stepney, I don't think you have met."

Lydia 屈服するd to a smart looking man of thirty, immaculately attired. He was very handsome, she thought, in a dark way, but he was just a little too "new" to please her. She did not like fashion-plate men, and although the most captious of critics could not have 設立する fault with his 訂正する attire, he gave her the impression of 存在 over-dressed.

Lydia had not 推定する／予想するd to 会合，会う 行方不明になる Briggerland and her father, although she had a 薄暗い recollection that Mrs. Cole-Mortimer had について言及するd her 指名する. Then in a flash she 解任するd the 疑惑s of Jack Glover, which she had covered with ridicule. The 協会 made her feel a little uncomfortable, and ジーンズ Briggerland, whose intuition was a little short of uncanny, must have read the 疑問 in her 直面する.

"Mrs. Meredith 推定する／予想するd to see us, didn't she, Margaret?" she said, 演説（する）／住所ing the twittering hostess. "Surely you told her we were 広大な／多数の／重要な friends?"

"Of course I did, my dear. Knowing your dear cousin and his dear father, it was not remarkable that I should know the whole of the family," and she smiled wisely from one to the other.

Of course! How absurd she was, thought Lydia. She had almost forgotten, and probably Jack Glover had forgotten too, that the Briggerlands and the Merediths were 関係のある.

She 設立する herself talking in a corner of the room with the girl, and fell to 熟考する／考慮するing her 直面する もう一度. A closer 査察 単に 強固にする／合併する／制圧するd her earlier judgment. She smiled inwardly as she remembered Jack Glover's ridiculous 警告. It was like 殺人，大当り a バタフライ with a steam 大打撃を与える, to loose so much vengeance against this frail piece of 磁器.

"And how do you feel now that you're very rich?" asked ジーンズ kindly.

"I 港／避難所't realised it yet," smiled Lydia.

ジーンズ nodded.

"I suppose you have yet to settle with the lawyers. Who are they? Oh yes, of course Mr. Glover was poor Jim's solicitor." She sighed. "I dislike lawyers," she said with a shiver, "they are so ひどく paternal! They feel that they and they only are qualified to direct your life and your 活動／戦闘s. I suppose it is second nature with them. Then, of course, they make an awful lot of money out of （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限s and 料金s, though I'm sure Jack Glover wouldn't worry about that. He's really a nice boy," she said 真面目に, "and I don't think you could have a better friend."

Lydia glowed at the generosity of this girl whom the man had so maligned.

"He has been very good to me," she said, "although, of course, he is a little fussy."

ジーンズ's lips twitched with amusement.

"Has he 警告するd you against me?" she asked solemnly. "Has he told you what a terrible ogre I am?" And then without waiting for a reply: "I いつかs think poor Jack is just a little—井戸／弁護士席, I wouldn't say mad, but a little queer. His dislikes are so violent. He 前向きに／確かに loathes Margaret, though why I have never been able to understand."

"He doesn't hate me," laughed Lydia, and ジーンズ looked at her strangely.

"No, I suppose not," she said. "I can't imagine anybody hating you, Lydia. May I call you by your Christian 指名する?"

"I wish you would," said Lydia 温かく.

"I can't imagine anybody hating you," repeated the girl thoughtfully. "And, of course, Jack wouldn't hate you because you're his （弁護士の）依頼人—a very rich and attractive （弁護士の）依頼人 too, my dear." She tapped the girl's cheek and Lydia, for some 推論する／理由, felt foolish.

But as though unconscious of the 当惑 she had 原因（となる）d, ジーンズ went on.

"I don't really 非難する him, either. I've a shrewd 疑惑 that all these 警告s against me and against other possible enemies will furnish a very excellent excuse for seeing you every day and 事実上の／代理 as your personal 護衛!"

Lydia shook her 長，率いる.

"That part of it he has relegated already," she said, giving smile for smile. "He has 任命するd Mr. Jaggs as my 護衛."

"Mr. Jaggs?" The トン was even, the 公式文書，認める of 調査 was not 緊張するd.

"He's an old gentleman in whom Mr. Glover is 利益／興味d, an old army pensioner. Beyond the fact that he hasn't the use of his 権利 arm, and limps with his left 脚, and that he likes beer and cheese, he seems an admirable watch dog," said Lydia humorously.

"Jaggs?" repeated the girl. "I wonder where I've heard that 指名する before. Is he a 探偵，刑事?"

"No, I don't think so. But Mr. Glover thinks I せねばならない have some sort of man sleeping in my new flat and Jaggs was duly engaged."

Soon after this Mr. Marcus Stepney （機の）カム over and Lydia 設立する him rather uninteresting. いっそう少なく boring was Briggerland, for he had a 基金 of stories and experiences to relate, and he had, too, one of those soft soothing 発言する／表明するs that are so rare in men.

It was dark when she （機の）カム out with Mr. and 行方不明になる Briggerland, and she felt that the afternoon had not been unprofitably spent.

For she had a clearer conception of the girl's character, and was getting Jack Glover's 利益／興味 into better 視野. The mercenary part of it made her just a little sick. There was something so mysterious, so ugly in his 見通し on life, and there might not be a little self-利益／興味 in his care for her.

She stood on the step of the house talking to the girl, whilst Mr. Briggerland lit a cigarette with a 特許 はしけ. Hyde Park 三日月 was 砂漠d save for a man who stood 近づく the railings which 保護するd the area of Mrs. Cole-Mortimer's house. He was 明らかに tying his shoe laces.

They went 負かす／撃墜する on the sidewalk, and Mr. Briggerland looked for his car.

"I'd like to take you home. My chauffeur 約束d to be here at four o'clock. These men are most untrustworthy."

From the other end of the 三日月 appeared the lights of a car. At first Lydia thought it might be Mr. Briggerland's, and she was going to make her excuses for she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to go home alone. The car was coming too, at a tremendous pace. She watched it as it （機の）カム furiously toward her, and she did not notice that Mr. Briggerland and his daughter had left her standing alone on the sidewalk and had 孤立した a few paces.

Suddenly the car made a swerve, 機動力のある the sidewalk and dashed upon her. It seemed that nothing could save her, and she stood fascinated with horror, waiting for death.

Then an arm gripped her waist, a powerful arm that 解除するd her from her feet and flung her 支援する against the railings, as the car flashed past, the mud-guard 行方不明の her by an インチ. The machine pulled up with a jerk, and the white-直面するd girl saw Briggerland and ジーンズ running toward her.

"I should never have forgiven myself if anything had happened. I think my chauffeur must be drunk," said Briggerland in an agitated 発言する／表明する.

She had no words. She could only nod, and then she remembered her preserver, and she turned to 会合，会う the solemn 注目する，もくろむs of a bent old man, whose pointed, white 耐えるd and bristling white eyebrows gave him a 強硬派-like 外見. His 権利 手渡す was thrust into his pocket. He was touching his 乱打するd hat with the other.

"Beg 容赦, 行方不明になる," he said raucously, "指名する of Jaggs! And I have 報告（する）／憶測d for dooty!"

CHAPTER X

Jack Glover listened 厳粛に to the story which the girl told. He had called at her lodgings on the に引き続いて morning to 安全な・保証する her 署名 to some 文書s, and breathlessly and a little shamefacedly, she told him what had happened.

"Of course it was an 事故," she 主張するd, "in fact, Mr. and 行方不明になる Briggerland were almost knocked 負かす／撃墜する by the car. But you don't know how thankful I am your Mr. Jaggs was on the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す."

"Where is he now?" asked Jack.

"I don't know," replied the girl. "He just limped away without another word and I did not see him again, though I thought I caught a glimpse of him as I （機の）カム into this house last night. How did he come to be on the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す?" she asked curiously.

"That is easily explained," replied Jack. "I told the old boy not to let you out of his sight from sundown to sun up."

"Then you think I'm 安全な during the day?" she 決起大会／結集させるd him.

He nodded.

"I don't know whether to laugh at you or to be very angry," she said, shaking her 長，率いる reprovingly. "Of course it was an 事故!"

"I 同意しない with you," said Jack. "Did you catch a glimpse of the chauffeur?"

"No," she said in surprise. "I didn't think of looking at him."

He nodded.

"If you had, you would probably have seen an old friend, すなわち, the gentleman who carried you off from the Erving Theatre," he said 静かに.

It was difficult for Lydia to analyse her own feelings. She knew that Jack Glover was wrong, monstrously wrong. She was perfectly 確信して that his fantastic theory had no 創立／基礎, and yet she could not get away from his 誠実. Remembering ジーンズ's description of him as "a little queer" she tried to fit that description into her knowledge of him, only to 収容する／認める to herself that he had been exceptionally normal as far as she was 関心d. The suggestion that his 反対する was mercenary, and that he looked upon her as a profitable match for himself, she 解任するd without consideration.

"Anyway, I like your Mr. Jaggs," she said.

"Better than you like me, I gather from your トン," smiled Jack. "He's not a bad old boy."

"He is a very strong old boy," she said. "He 解除するd me as though I were a feather—I don't know now how I escaped. The steering gear went wrong," she explained unnecessarily.

"Dear me," said Jack politely, "and it went 権利 again in time to enable the chauffeur to keep （疑いを）晴らす of Briggerland and his angel daughter!"

She gave a gesture of despair.

"You're hopeless," she said. "These things happened in the dark ages; men and women do not assassinate one another in the twentieth century."

"Who told you that?" he 需要・要求するd. "Human nature hasn't changed for two thousand years. The instinct to kill is as strong as ever, or wars would be impossible. If any man or woman could commit one 冷淡な-血d 殺人, there is no 推論する／理由 why he or she should not commit a hundred. In England, America, and フラン fifty 冷淡な-血d 殺人s are （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd every year. Twice that number are undetected. It does not make the 罪，犯罪 more impossible because the 犯罪の is good looking."

"You're hopeless," she said again, and Jack made no その上の 試みる／企てる to 納得させる her.

On the Thursday of that week she 交流d her lodgings for a handsome flat in Cavendish Place, and Mrs. Morgan had 約束d to join her a week later, when she had settled up her own 商売／仕事 事件／事情／状勢s.

Lydia was fortunate enough to get two maids from one of the 機関s, one of whom was to sleep on the 前提s. The flat was not illimitable, and she regretted that she had 約束d to place a room at the 処分 of the 老年の Mr. Jaggs. If he was awake all night as she 推定するd he would be, and slept in the day, he might have been 融通するd in the kitchen, and she hinted as much to Jack. To her surprise the lawyer had turned 負かす／撃墜する that idea.

"You don't want your servants to know that you have a watchman."

"What do you imagine they will think he is?" she asked scornfully. "How can I have an old gentleman in the flat without explaining why he is there?"

"Your explanation could be that he did the boots."

"It wouldn't take him all night to do the boots. Of course, I'm too 感謝する to him to want him to do anything."

Mr. Jaggs 報告（する）／憶測d again for 義務 that night. He （機の）カム at half-past nine, a shabby-looking old man, and Lydia, who had not yet got used to her new magnificence, （機の）カム out into the hall to 会合，会う him.

He was certainly not a prepossessing 反対する, and Lydia discovered that, in 新規加入 to his other misfortunes, he had a slight squint.

"I hadn't an 適切な時期 of thanking you the other day, Mr. Jaggs," she said. "I think you saved my life."

"That's all 権利, 行方不明になる," he said, in his hoarse 発言する／表明する. "Dooty is dooty!"

She thought he was looking past her, till she realised that his curious slanting line of 見通し was part of his infirmity.

"I'll show you to your room," she said あわてて.

She led the way 負かす／撃墜する the 回廊（地帯）, opened the door of a small room which had been 用意が出来ている for him, and switched on the light.

"Too much light for me, 行方不明になる," said the old man, shaking his 長，率いる. "I like to sit in the dark and listen, that's what I like, to sit in the dark and listen."

"But you can't sit in the dark, you'll want to read, won't you?"

"Can't read, 行方不明になる," said Jaggs cheerfully. "Can't 令状, either. I don't know that I'm any worse off."

Reluctantly she switched out the light.

"But you won't be able to see your food."

"I can feel for that, 行方不明になる," he said with a hoarse chuckle. "Don't you worry about me. I'll just sit here and have a big think."

If she was uncomfortable before, she was really embarrassed now. The very sight of the door behind which old Jaggs sat having his "big think" was an irritation to her. She could not sleep for a long time that night for thinking of him sitting in the 不明瞭, and "listening" as he put it, and had 堅固に 解決するd on ending a 条件 of 事件／事情／状勢s which was 特に distasteful to her, when she fell asleep.

She woke when the maid brought her tea, to learn that Jaggs had gone.

The maid, too, had her 見解（をとる）s on the "old gentleman." She hadn't slept all night for the thought of him, she said, though probably this was an exaggeration.

The 協定 must end, thought Lydia, and she called at Jack Glover's office that afternoon to tell him so. Jack listened without comment until she had finished.

"I'm sorry he is worrying you, but you'll get used to him in time, and I should be 強いるd if you kept him for a month. You would relieve me of a lot of 苦悩."

At first she was 決定するd to have her way, but he was so 執拗な, so pleading, that 結局 she 降伏するd.

Lucy, the new maid, however, was not so easily 納得させるd.

"I don't like it, 行方不明になる," she said, "he's just like an old tramp, and I'm sure we shall be 殺人d in our beds."

"How cheerful you are, Lucy," laughed Lydia. "Of course, there is no danger from Mr. Jaggs, and he really was very useful to me."

The girl 不平（をいう）d and assented a little sulkily, and Lydia had a feeling that she was going to lose a good servant. In this she was not mistaken.

Old Jaggs called at half-past nine that night, and was 認める by the maid, who stalked in 前線 of him and opened his door.

"There's your room," she snapped, "and I'd rather have your room than your company."

"Would you, 行方不明になる?" wheezed Jaggs, and Lydia, attracted by the sound of 発言する／表明するs, （機の）カム to the door and listened with some amusement.

"Lord, bless me life, it ain't a bad room, either. Put the light out, my dear, I don't like light. I like 'em dark, like them little 独房s in Holloway 刑務所，拘置所, where you were took two years ago for robbing your missus."

Lydia's smile left her 直面する. She heard the girl gasp.

"You old liar!" she hissed.

"Lucy Jones you call yourself—you used to be Mary Welch in them days," chuckled old Jaggs.

"I'm not going to be 侮辱d," almost 叫び声をあげるd Lucy, though there was a 公式文書，認める of 恐れる in her strident 発言する／表明する. "I'm going to leave to- night."

"No you ain't, my dear," said old Jaggs complacently. "You're going to sleep here to-night, and you're going to leave in the morning. If you try to get out of that door before I let you, you'll be pinched."

"They've got nothing against me," the girl was betrayed into 説.

"誤った characters, my dear. Pretending to come from the 機関, when you didn't. That's another 罪，犯罪. Lord bless your heart, I've got enough against you to put you in 刑務所，拘置所 for a year."

Lydia （機の）カム 今後.

"What is this you're 説 about my maid?"

"Good evening, ma'am."

The old man knuckled his forehead.

"I'm just having an argument with your young lady."

"Do you say she is a どろぼう?"

"Of course she is, 行方不明になる," said Jaggs scornfully. "You ask her!"

But Lucy had gone into her room, slammed the door and locked it.

The next morning when Lydia woke, the flat was empty, save for herself. But she had hardly finished dressing when there （機の）カム a knock at the door, and a 削減する, fresh-looking country girl, with an expansive smile and a look of good 元気づける that warmed Lydia's heart, appeared.

"You're the lady that wants a maid, ma'am, aren't you?"

"Yes," said Lydia in surprise. "But who sent you?"

"I was telegraphed for yesterday, ma'am, from the country."

"Come in," said Lydia helplessly.

"Isn't it 権利?" asked the girl a little disappointedly. "They sent me my fare. I （機の）カム up by the first train."

"It is やめる all 権利," said Lydia, "only I'm wondering who is running this flat, me or Mr. Jaggs?"

CHAPTER XI

ジーンズ Briggerland had spent a very busy afternoon. There had been a string of 報知係s at the handsome house in Berkeley Street.

Mr. Briggerland was of a philanthropic bent, and had 学校／設けるd a club in the East End of London which was ーするつもりであるd to raise the moral トン of Limehouse, Wapping, Poplar and the 隣接する 地区s. It was started without ostentation with a man 指名するd Faire as general 経営者／支配人. Mr. Faire had had in his lifetime several hectic contests with the police, in which he had been invariably the loser. And it was in his 役割 as a 改革（する）d character that he undertook the 管理／経営 of this social uplift club.

井戸／弁護士席-meaning police 公式の／役人s had 警告するd Mr. Briggerland that Faire had a bad character. Mr. Briggerland listened, was 感謝する for the 警告, but explained that Faire had come under the 影響（力） of the new uplift movement, and from henceforward he would be an 模範的な 国民. Later, the police had occasion to 延長する their 警告 to its 創立者. The club was 存在 used by known 犯罪の characters; men who had already been in 刑務所，拘置所 and were qualifying for a return visit.

Again Mr. Briggerland pointed to the 反対する of the 会・原則 which was to bring bad men into the society of good men and women, and to 誘発する in them a 願望（する） for better things. He 引用するd a famous text with 広大な／多数の／重要な 影響. But still the police were unconvinced.

It was the practice of 行方不明になる ジーンズ Briggerland to receive selected members of the club and to entertain them at tea in Berkeley Street. Her friends thought it was very "甘い" and very "daring," and wondered whether she wasn't afraid of catching some 肉親，親類d of 病気 peculiar to the East End of London. But ジーンズ did not worry about such things. On this afternoon, after the last of her 報知係s had gone, she went 負かす／撃墜する to the little morning-room where such entertainments occurred and 設立する two men, who rose awkwardly as she entered.

The gentle 影響（力） of the club had not made them look anything but what they were. "刑務所，拘置所-bird" was written all over them.

"I'm very glad you men have come," said ジーンズ sweetly. "Mr. Hoggins—"

"That's me, 行方不明になる," said one, with a grin.

"And Mr. Talmot."

The second man showed his teeth.

"I'm always glad to see members of the club," said ジーンズ busy with the teapot, "特に men who have had so bad a time as you have. You have only just come out of 刑務所，拘置所, 港／避難所't you, Mr. Hoggins?" she asked innocently.

Hoggins went red and coughed.

"Yes, 行方不明になる," he said huskily and 追加するd inconsequently, "I didn't do it!"

"I'm sure you were innocent," she said with a smile of sympathy, "and really if you were 有罪の I don't think you men are so much to 非難する. Look what a bad time you have! What disadvantages you 苦しむ, whilst here in the West End people are wasting money that really せねばならない go to your wives and children."

"That's 権利," said Mr. Hoggins.

"There's a girl I know who is tremendously rich," ジーンズ prattled on. "She lives at 84, Cavendish Mansions, just on the 最高の，を越す 床に打ち倒す, and, of course, she's very foolish to sleep with her windows open, 特に as people could get 負かす／撃墜する from the roof—there is a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 escape there. She always has a lot of jewellery—keeps it under her pillow I think, and there is 一般に a few hundred 続けざまに猛撃するs scattered about the bedroom. Now that is what I call putting 誘惑 in the way of the weak."

She 解除するd her blue 注目する，もくろむs, saw the glitter in the man's 注目する，もくろむs and went on.

"I've told her lots of times that there is danger, but she only laughs. There is an old man who sleeps in the house—やめる a feeble old man who has only the use of one arm. Of course, if she cried out, I suppose he would come to her 救助（する）, but then a real 夜盗，押し込み強盗 wouldn't let her cry out, would he?" she asked.

The two men looked at one another.

"No," breathed one.

"特に as they could get clean away if they were clever," said ジーンズ, "and it isn't likely that they would leave her in a 条件 to betray them, is it?"

Mr. Hoggins （疑いを）晴らすd his throat.

"It's not very likely, 行方不明になる," he said.

ジーンズ shrugged her shoulders.

"Women do these things, and then they 非難する the poor man to whom a thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs would be a fortune because he comes and takes it. 本人自身で, I should not like to live at 84, Cavendish Mansions."

"84, Cavendish Mansions," murmured Mr. Hoggins absent-mindedly.

His last 宣告，判決 had been one of ten years' penal servitude. His next 宣告，判決 would be for life. Nobody knew this better than ジーンズ Briggerland as she went on to talk of the club and of the wonderful work which it was doing.

She 解任するd her 訪問者s and went 支援する to her sitting-room. As she turned to go up the stairway her maid 迎撃するd her.

"Mary is in your room, 行方不明になる," she said in a low 発言する／表明する.

ジーンズ frowned but made no reply.

The woman who stood awkwardly in the centre of the room を待つing the girl, 迎える／歓迎するd her with an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, 行方不明になる," she said, "but I lost my 職業 this morning. That old man spotted me. He's a 分裂（する）—a 探偵，刑事."

ジーンズ Briggerland regarded her with an unmoved 直面する save that her beautiful mouth took on the pathetic little droop which had excited the pity of a 裁判官 and an army of lawyers.

"When did this happen?" she asked.

"Last night, 行方不明になる. He （機の）カム and I got a bit cheeky to him, and he turned on me, the old devil, and told me my real 指名する and that I'd got the 職業 by (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進むing 推薦s."

ジーンズ sat 負かす／撃墜する slowly in the padded Venetian 議長，司会を務める before her 令状ing （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"Jaggs?" she asked.

"Yes, 行方不明になる."

"And why didn't you come here at once?"

"I thought I might be followed, 行方不明になる."

The girl bit her lip and nodded.

"You did やめる 権利," she said, and then after a moment's reflection, "We shall be in Paris next week. You had better go by the night train and wait for us at the flat."

She gave the maid some money and after she had gone, sat for an hour before the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 looking into its red depths.

She rose at last a little stiffly, pulled the 激しい silken curtain across the windows and switched on the light, and there was a smile on her 直面する that was very beautiful to see. For in that hour （機の）カム an inspiration.

She sought her father in his 熟考する／考慮する and told him her 計画（する）, and he blanched and shivered with the very horror of it.

CHAPTER XII

Mr. Briggerland, it seemed, had some other 反対する in life than the regeneration of the 犯罪の classes. He was a sociologist—a loose 肩書を与える which covers a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 of inquisitive 調査 into other people's 事件／事情／状勢s. Moreover, he had published a 調書をとる／予約する on the 支配する. His 指名する was on the 肩書を与える page and the 調書をとる／予約する had been reviewed to his credit; though in truth he did no more than 示唆する the 肩書を与える, the work in question having been carried out by a writer on the 支配する who, for a consideration, had 許すd Mr. Briggerland to 可決する・採択する the child of his brain.

On a morning when pale yellow sunlight brightened his dining-room, Mr. Briggerland put 負かす／撃墜する his newspaper and looked across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する at his daughter. He had a club in the East End of London and his 経営者／支配人 had telephoned that morning sending a somewhat unhappy 報告（する）／憶測.

"Do you remember that man Talmot, my dear?" he asked.

She nodded, and looked up quickly.

"Yes, what about him?"

"He's in hospital," said Mr. Briggerland. "I 恐れる that he and Hoggins were engaged in some nefarious 計画（する） and that in making an 試みる／企てる to enter—as, of course, they had no 権利 to enter—a 封鎖する of flats in Cavendish Place, poor Talmot slipped and fell from the fourth 床に打ち倒す window-sill, breaking his 脚. Hoggins had to carry him to hospital."

The girl reached for bacon from the hot plate.

"He should have broken his neck," she said calmly. "I suppose now the police are making tender 調査s?"

"No, no," Mr. Briggerland 急いでd to 保証する her. "Nobody knows anything about it, not even the—er—fortunate occupant of the flat they were evidently trying to burgle. I only learnt of it because the 経営者／支配人 of the club, who gets （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） of this character, thought I would be 利益／興味d."

"Anyway I'm glad they didn't 後継する," said ジーンズ after a while. "The 可能性 of their trying rather worried me. The Hoggins type is such a bungler that it was almost 確かな they would fail."

It was a curious fact that whilst her father made the most guarded 言及／関連s to all their 偉業／利用するs and 着せる／賦与するd them with 衣料品s of euphemism, his daughter never 試みる／企てるd any such disguise. The psychologist would find in Mr. Briggerland's reticence the embryo of a once 支配的な rectitude, no trace of which remained in his daughter's moral 器具／備品.

"I have been trying to place this man Jaggs," she went on with a little puzzled frown, "and he 完全に baffles me. He arrives every night in a taxicab, いつかs from St. Pancras, いつかs from Euston, いつかs from London 橋（渡しをする） 駅／配置する."

"Do you think he is a 探偵，刑事?"

"I don't know," she said thoughtfully. "If he is, he has been 輸入するd from the 州s. He is not a Scotland Yard man. He may, of course, be an old police pensioner, and I have been trying to trace him from that source."

"It should not be difficult to find out all about him," said Mr. Briggerland easily. "A man with his afflictions should be pretty 井戸／弁護士席- known."

He looked at his watch.

"My 任命 at Norwood is at eleven o'clock," he said. He made a little grimace of disgust.

"Would you rather I went?" asked the girl.

Mr. Briggerland would much rather that she had undertaken the disagreeable experience which lay before him, but he dare not 自白する as much.

"You, my dear? Of course not! I would not 許す you to have such an experience. No, no, I don't mind it a bit."

にもかかわらず, he 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd 負かす／撃墜する two long glasses of brandy before he left.

His car 始める，決める him 負かす／撃墜する before the アイロンをかける gates of a squat and ugly stucco building, surrounded by high 塀で囲むs, and the 制服を着た attendant, having 診察するd his 信任状, 認める him. He had to wait a little while before a second attendant arrived to 行為／行う him to the 医療の superintendent, an 年輩の man who did not seem 圧倒するd with joy at the honour Mr. Briggerland was 支払う／賃金ing him.

"I'm sorry I shan't be able to show you 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, Mr. Briggerland," he said. "I have an 約束／交戦 in town, but my assistant, Dr. Carew, will 行為／行う you over the 亡命 and give you all the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） you 要求する. This, of course, as you know, is a 私的な 会・原則. I should have thought you would have got more 構成要素 for your 調書をとる／予約する in one of the big public 亡命s. The people who are sent to Norwood, you know, are not the 穏やかな 事例／患者s, and you will see some rather terrible sights. You are 用意が出来ている for that?"

Mr. Briggerland nodded. He was 用意が出来ている to the extent of two 十分な noggins of brandy. Moreover, he was 井戸／弁護士席 aware that Norwood was the 亡命 to which the more dangerous of lunatics were transferred.

Dr. Carew 証明するd to be a young and enthusiastic alienist whose heart and soul was in his work.

"I suppose you are 用意が出来ている to see jumpy things," he said with a smile, as he 行為／行うd Mr. Briggerland along a 石／投石する-丸天井d 回廊（地帯）.

He opened a steel gate, the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s of which were encased with 厚い 層s of rubber, crossed a grassy 陰謀（を企てる） (there were no 石／投石する-flagged paths at Norwood) and entered one of the three buildings which 構成するd the 亡命 proper.

It was a harrowing, heart-breaking, and to some extent, a disappointing experience for Mr. Briggerland. True, his heart did not break, because it was made of infrangible 構成要素, and his 失望 was 反対する-balanced by a 確かな vague 救済.

At the end of two hours' 査察 they were standing out on the big playing fields, watching the いっそう少なく violent of the 患者s wandering aimlessly about. Except one, they were unattended by keepers, but in the 事例／患者 of this one man, two stalwart 制服を着た men walked on either 味方する of him.

"Who is he?" asked Briggerland.

"That is rather a sad 事例／患者," said the alienist cheerfully. He had pointed out many "sad 事例／患者s" in the same 有望な manner. "He's a doctor and a 本物の 殺人. Luckily they （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd him before he did any mischief or he would have been in Broadmoor."

"Aren't you ever afraid of these men escaping?" asked Mr. Briggerland.

"You asked that before," said the doctor in surprise. "No. You see, an insane 亡命 is not like a 刑務所，拘置所; to make a good get-away from 刑務所，拘置所 you have to have outside 援助. Nobody wants to help a lunatic escape, さもなければ it would be easier than getting out of 刑務所，拘置所, because we have no patrols in the grounds, the 区s can be opened from the outside without a 重要な and the night patrol who visits the 区s every half- hour has no time for any other 観察. Would you like to talk to Dr. Thun?"

Mr. Briggerland hesitated only for a second.

"Yes," he said huskily.

There was nothing in the 外見 of the 患者 to 示唆する that he was in any way dangerous. A fair, bearded man, with pale blue 注目する，もくろむs, he held out his 手渡す impulsively to the 訪問者, and after a momentary hesitation, Mr. Briggerland took it and 設立する his 手渡す in a 支配する like a 副／悪徳行為. The two attendants 交流d ちらりと見ることs with the 亡命 doctor and strolled off.

"I think you can talk to him without 恐れる," said the doctor in a low 発言する／表明する, not so low, however, that the 患者 did not hear it, for he laughed.

"Without 恐れる, favour or prejudice, eh? Yes, that was how they swore the officers at my 法廷，裁判所 戦争の."

"The doctor was the general who was 責任がある the losses at Caperetto," explained Dr. Carew. "That was where the Italians lost so ひどく."

Thun nodded.

"Of course, I was perfectly innocent," he explained to Briggerland 本気で, and taking the 訪問者's arm he strolled across the field, the doctor and the two attendants に引き続いて at a distance. Mr. Briggerland breathed a little more quickly as he felt the strength of the 患者's biceps.

"My 有罪の判決," said Dr. Thun 本気で, "was 予定 to the fact that women were sitting on the 法廷，裁判所 戦争の, which is, of course, against all 規則s."

"Certainly," murmured Mr. Briggerland.

"Keeping me here," Thun went on, "is part of the 陰謀（を企てる） of the Italian 政府. 自然に, they do not wish me to get at my enemies, who I have every 推論する／理由 to believe are in London."

Mr. Briggerland drew a long breath.

"They are in London," he said a little hoarsely. "I happen to know where they are."

"Really?" said the other easily, and then a cloud passed over his 直面する and he shook his 長，率いる.

"They are 安全な from my vengeance," he said a little sadly. "As long as they keep me in this place pretending that I am mad, there is no possible chance for me."

The 訪問者 looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and saw that the three men who were に引き続いて were out of ear 発射.

"Suppose I （機の）カム to-morrow night," he said, lowering his 発言する／表明する, "and helped you to get away? What is your 区?"

"No. 6," said the other in the same トン. His 注目する，もくろむs were 炎ing.

"Do you think you will remember?" asked Briggerland.

Thun nodded.

"You will come to-morrow night—No. 6, the first cubicle on the left," he whispered, "you will not fail me? If I thought you'd fail me—" His 注目する，もくろむs lit up again.

"I shall not fail you," said Mr. Briggerland あわてて. "When the clock strikes twelve you may 推定する／予想する me."

"You must be 保安官 Foch," murmured Thun, and then with all a madman's cunning, changed the conversation as the doctor and attendants, who had noticed his excitement, drew nearer. "Believe me, Mr. Briggerland," he went on airily, "the 戦略 of the 同盟（する）s was at fault until I took up the 命令（する） of the army... "

Ten minutes later Mr. Briggerland was in his car 運動ing homeward, a little breathless, more than a little terrified at the unpleasant 仕事 he had 始める，決める himself; jubilant, too, at his amazing success.

ジーンズ had said he might have to visit a dozen 亡命s before he 設立する his 適切な時期 and the 権利 man, and he had 後継するd at the first 試みる／企てる. Yet—he shuddered at the picture he conjured—that climb over the high 塀で囲む (he had already 位置を示すd the 区, for he had followed the General and the attendants and had seen him 安全に put away), the midnight 協会 with a madman...

He burst in upon ジーンズ with his news.

"At the first 試みる／企てる, my dear, what do you think of that?" His dark 直面する glowed with almost childish pride, and she looked at him with a half- smile.

"I thought you would," she said 静かに. "That's the rough work done, at any 率."

"The rough work!" he said indignantly.

She nodded.

"Half the difficulty is going to be to cover up your visit to the 亡命, because this man is 確かな to について言及する your 指名する, and it will not all be 解任するd as the imagination of a madman. Now I think I will make my 約束d call upon Mrs. Meredith."

CHAPTER XIII

There was one thing which rather puzzled and almost piqued Lydia Meredith, and that was the 失敗 of ジーンズ Briggerland's prophecy to materialise. ジーンズ had said half jestingly that Jack Glover would be a たびたび（訪れる） 訪問者 at the flat; in point of fact, he did not come at all. Even when she visited the offices of Rennett, Glover and Simpson, it was Mr. Rennett who …に出席するd to her, and Jack was invisible. Mr. Rennett いつかs explained that he was at the 法廷，裁判所s, for Jack did all the 法廷，裁判所 work, いつかs that he had gone home.

She caught a glimpse of him once as she was 運動ing past the 法律 法廷，裁判所s in the 立ち往生させる. He was standing on the pavement talking to a be- wigged counsel, so かもしれない Mr. Rennett had not 明言する／公表するd more than the truth when he said that the young man's time was mostly 占領するd by the 過程s of litigation.

She was curious enough to look through the telephone directory to discover where he lived. There were about fifty Glovers, and ten of these were John Glovers, and she was enough of a woman to call up six of the most likely only to discover that her Mr. Glover was not amongst them. She did not know till later that his 十分な 指名する was Bertram John Glover, or she might have 設立する his 演説（する）／住所 without difficulty.

Mrs. Morgan had now arrived, to Lydia's infinite 救済, and had taken 支配（する）／統制する of the 世帯 事件／事情／状勢s. The new maid was as perfect as a new maid could be, and but for the nightly 侵入占拠 of the taciturn Jaggs, to whom, for some 推論する／理由, Mrs. Morgan took a liking, the 現在の of her 国内の life ran 滑らかに.

She was already becoming accustomed to the 所有／入手 of wealth. The habit of 存在 rich is one of the easiest acquired, and she 設立する herself 交渉するing for a little house in Curzon Street and a more pretentious 設立 in Somerset, with a sangfroid which astonished and 脅すd her.

The 購入（する） and arrival of her first car, and the 約束／交戦 of her chauffeur had been a thrilling experience. It was incredible, too, that her new 銀行業者s should, without hesitation, 配達する to her enormous sums of money at the mere affixing of her 署名 to an oblong slip of paper.

She had even got over the panic feeling which （機の）カム to her on her first few visits to the bank. On these earlier occasions she had felt rather like an inexpert forger, who was endeavouring to get money by 誤った pretence, and it was both a 救済 and a wonder to her when the nonchalant cashier thrust 厚い wads of bank-公式文書，認めるs under the 取調べ／厳しく尋問する, without so much as sending for a policeman.

"It's a lovely flat," said ジーンズ Briggerland, looking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the pink 製図／抽選-room approvingly, "but of course, my dear, this is one that was already furnished for you. I'm dying to see what you will make of your own home when you get one."

She had telephoned that morning to Lydia 説 that she was 支払う／賃金ing a call, asking if it was convenient, and the two girls were alone.

"It is a nice flat, and I shall be sorry to leave it," agreed Lydia. "It is so extraordinarily 静かな. I sleep like a 最高の，を越す. There is no noise to 乱す one, except that there was rather an unpleasant happening the other morning."

"What was that?" asked ジーンズ, stirring her tea.

"I don't know really what happened," said Lydia. "I heard an awful groaning very 早期に in the morning and I got up and looked out of the window. There were two men in the 中庭. One, I think, had 傷つける himself very 不正に. I never discovered what happened."

"They must have been workmen, I should think," said ジーンズ, "or else they were drunk. 本人自身で, I have never liked taking furnished flats," she went on. "One always breaks things, and there's such a big 法案 to 支払う／賃金 at the end. And then I always lose the 重要なs. One usually has two or three. You should be very careful about that, my dear, they make an enormous 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 for lost 重要なs," she prattled on.

"I think the house スパイ／執行官 gave me three," said Lydia. She walked to her little secretaire, opened it and pulled out a drawer.

"Yes, three," she said, "there is one here, one I carry, and Mrs. Morgan has one."

"Have you seen Jack Glover lately?"

ジーンズ never 追求するd an enquiry too far, by so much as one syllable.

"No, I 港／避難所't seen him," smiled Lydia, "You weren't a good prophet."

"I 推定する／予想する he is busy," said the girl carelessly. "I think I could like Jack awfully—if he hadn't such a passion for ordering people about. How careless of me!" She had tipped over her teacup and its contents were running across the little tea （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. She pulled out her handkerchief quickly and tried to stop the flow.

"Oh, please, please don't spoil your beautiful handkerchief," said Lydia, rising hurriedly, "I will get a duster."

She ran out of the room and was 支援する almost すぐに, to find ジーンズ standing with her 支援する to the secretaire 診察するing the 廃虚s of her late handkerchief with a smile.

"Let me put your handkerchief in water or it will be stained," said Lydia, putting out her 手渡す.

"I would rather do it myself," laughed ジーンズ Briggerland, and 押し進めるd the handkerchief into her 捕らえる、獲得する.

There were many 推論する／理由s why Lydia should not 扱う that flimsy piece of cambric and lace, the most important of which was the 重要な which ジーンズ had taken from the secretaire in Lydia's absence, and had rolled inside the tea-stained handkerchief.

A few days later Mr. Bertram John Glover interviewed a high 公式の／役人 at Scotland Yard, and the interview was not a 特に 満足な one to the lawyer. It might have been worse, had not the police commissioner been a friend of Jack's partner.

The 公式の／役人 listened 根気よく whilst the lawyer, with professional 技術, marshalled all his facts, 大（公）使館員ing to them the 疑惑s which had 円熟したd to 有罪の判決s.

"I have sat in this 議長，司会を務める for twenty-five years," said the 長，率いる of the C.I.D., "and I have heard stories which （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 the best and the worst of 探偵，刑事 stories hollow. I have listened to cranks, amateur 探偵，刑事s, crooks, parsons and 専門家 fictionists, but never in my experience have I ever heard anything やめる so improbable as your theory. It happens that I have met Briggerland and I've met his daughter too, and a more beautiful girl I don't think it has been my 楽しみ to 会合，会う."

Jack groaned.

"Aren't you feeling 井戸／弁護士席?" asked the 長，指導者 unpleasantly.

"I'm all 権利, sir," said Jack, "only I'm so tired of 審理，公聴会 about ジーンズ Briggerland's beauty. It doesn't seem a very good argument to …に反対する to the facts—"

"Facts!" said the other scornfully. "What facts have you given us?"

"The fact of the Briggerlands' history," said Jack 猛烈に. "Briggerland was broke when he married 行方不明になる Meredith under the impression that he would get a fortune with his wife. He has lived by his wits all his life, and until this girl was about fifteen, they were 存在するing in a 明言する／公表する of poverty. They lived in a tiny house in Ealing, the rent of which was always in arrears, and then Briggerland became 熟知させるd with a rich Australian of middle age who was crazy about his daughter. The rich Australian died suddenly."

"From an overdose of veronal," said the 長，指導者. "It was 設立するd at the 検死—I got all the 文書s out after I received your letter—that he was in the habit of taking veronal. You 示唆する he was 殺人d. If he was, for what? He left the girl about six thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs."

"Briggerland thought she was going to get it all," said Jack.

"That is conjecture," interrupted the 長，指導者. "Go on."

"Briggerland moved up west," Jack went on, "and when the girl was seventeen she made the 知識 of a man 指名するd Gunnesbury, who went just as mad about her. Gunnesbury was a midland merchant with a wife and family. He was so infatuated with her that he collected all the loose money he could lay his 手渡すs on—some twenty-five thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs —and bolted to the continent. The girl was supposed to have gone on ahead, and he was to join her at Calais. He never reached Calais. The theory was that he jumped overboard. His 団体／死体 was 設立する and brought in to Dover, but there was 非，不，無 of the money in his 所有／入手 that he had drawn from the Midland Bank."

"That is a theory, too," said the 長，指導者, shaking his 長，率いる. "The 身元 of the girl was never 設立するd. It was known that she was a friend of Gunnesbury's, but there was proof that she was in London on the night of his death. It was a （疑いを）晴らす 事例／患者 of 自殺."

"A year later," Jack went on, "she 軍隊d a 会合 with Meredith, her cousin. His father had just died—Jim had come 支援する from Central Africa to put things in order. He was not a woman's man, and was a 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な, retiring sort of fellow, who had no other 利益／興味 in life than his 狙撃. The story of Meredith you know."

"And is that all?" asked the 長，指導者 politely.

"All the facts I can gather. There must be other 事例／患者s which are beyond the 力／強力にする of the 捜査官／調査官 to 明らかにする."

"And what do you 推定する／予想する me to do?"

Jack smiled.

"I don't 推定する／予想する you to do anything," he said 率直に. "You are not 正確に／まさに supporting my 見解（をとる）s with enthusiasm."

The 長，指導者 rose, a signal that the interview was at an end.

"I'd like to help you if you had any real need for help," he said. "But when you come to me and tell me that 行方不明になる Briggerland, a girl whose innocence shows in her 直面する, is a heartless 犯罪の and murderess, and a conspirator—why, Mr. Glover, what do you 推定する／予想する me to say?"

"I 推定する／予想する you to give 適する 保護 to Mrs. Meredith," said Jack はっきりと. "I 推定する／予想する you, sir, to remember that I've 警告するd you that Mrs. Meredith may die one of those 偶発の deaths in which Mr. and 行方不明になる Briggerland specialise. I'm going to put my 警告 in 黒人／ボイコット and white, and if anything happens to Lydia Meredith, there is going to be serious trouble on the Thames 堤防."

The 長，指導者 touched a bell, and a constable （機の）カム in.

"Show Mr. Glover the way out," he said stiffly.

Jack had 静めるd 負かす／撃墜する かなり by the time he reached the Thames 堤防, and was inclined to be annoyed with himself for losing his temper.

He stopped a newsboy, took a paper from his 手渡す, and, あられ／賞賛するing a cab, drove to his office.

There was little in the 早期に 版 save the 冒険的な news, but on the 前線 page a paragraph 逮捕（する）d his 注目する，もくろむ.

"DANGEROUS LUNATIC AT LARGE."

"The 医療の Superintendent at Norwood 亡命 報告（する）／憶測s that Dr. Algernon John Thun, an inmate of the 亡命, escaped last night, and is believed to be 捕まらないで in the neighbourhood. Search parties have been organised, but no trace of the man has been 設立する. He is known to have homicidal 傾向s, a fact which （判決などを）下すs his 即座の 再度捕まえる a very 緊急の necessity."

There followed a description of the 手配中の，お尋ね者 man. Jack turned to another part of the paper, and 解任するd the paragraph from his mind.

His partner, however, was to bring the 事柄 up at lunch. Norwood 亡命 was 近づく Dulwich, and Mr. Rennett was pardonably 関心d.

"The womenfolk at my house are 脅すd to death," he said at lunch. "They won't go out at night, and they keep all the doors locked. How did your interview with the commissioner go on?"

"We parted the worst of friends," said Jack, "and, Rennett, the next man who 会談 to me about ジーンズ Briggerland's beautiful 直面する is going to be killed dead through it, even though I have to take a leaf from her 調書をとる／予約する and 雇う the grisly Jaggs to do it."

CHAPTER XIV

That night the "grisly Jaggs" was later than usual. Lydia heard him shuffling along the passage, and presently the door of his room の近くにd with a click. She was sitting at the piano, and had stopped playing at the sound of his knock, and when Mrs. Morgan （機の）カム in to 発表する his arrival, she の近くにd the piano and swung 一連の会議、交渉／完成する on the music stool, a look of 決意 on her delicate 直面する.

"He's come, 行方不明になる."

"And for the last time," said Lydia ominously. "Mrs. Morgan, I can't stand that weird old gentleman any longer. He has got on my 神経s so that I could 叫び声をあげる when I think of him."

"He's not a bad old gentleman," excused Mrs. Morgan.

"I'm not so worried about his moral character, and I dare say that it is perfectly blameless," said Lydia determinedly, "but I have written a 公式文書，認める to Mr. Glover to tell him that I really must dispense with his services."

"What's he here for, 行方不明になる?" asked Mrs. Morgan.

Her curiosity had been 誘発するd, but this was the first time she had given it 表現.

"He's here because—" Lydia hesitated, "井戸／弁護士席, because Mr. Glover thinks I せねばならない have a man in the house to look after me."

"Why, 行方不明になる?" asked the startled woman.

"You'd better ask Mr. Glover that question," said Lydia grimly.

She was beginning to chafe under the sense of 抑制. She was 存在 "school-marmed" she thought. No girl likes the ostentatious 保護 of the big brother or the 長，率いる mistress. The soul of the schoolgirl yearns to break from the "crocodile" in which she is marched to church and to school, and this sensation of 存在 marshalled and ordered about, and of living her life によれば a third person's programme, and that third person a man, 困らすd her horribly.

Old Jaggs was the outward and 明白な 調印する of Jack Glover's unwarranted 当局, and slowly there was creeping into her mind a 疑惑 that ジーンズ Briggerland might not have been mistaken when she spoke of Jack's penchant for "ordering people about."

Life was growing bigger for her. She had broken 負かす／撃墜する the 障壁s which had 限定するd her to a 狭くする promenade between office and home. The hours which she had had to 充てる to work were now 完全に 解放する／自由な, and she could sketch or paint whenever the fancy took her—which was not very often, though she 約束d herself a period of hard work when once she was settled 負かす／撃墜する.

Toward the good-looking young lawyer her point of 見解（をとる） had 転換d. She hardly knew herself how she regarded him. He irritated, and yet in some indefinable way, pleased her. His 誠実—? She did not 疑問 his 誠実. She 認める to herself that she wished he would call a little more frequently than he did. He might have 説得するd her that Jaggs was a necessary evil, but he hadn't even taken the trouble to come. Therefore—but this she did not 収容する／認める—Jaggs must go.

"I don't think the old gentleman's やめる 権利 in his 長，率いる, you know, いつかs," said Mrs. Morgan.

"Why ever not, Mrs. Morgan?" asked the girl in surprise.

"I often hear him sniggering to himself as I go past his door. I suppose he stays in his room all night, 行方不明になる?"

"He doesn't," said the girl emphatically, "and that's why he's going. I heard him in the passage at two o'clock this morning; I'm getting into such a 明言する／公表する of 神経s that the slightest sound awakens me. He had his boots off and was creeping about in his stockings, and when I went out and switched the light on he bolted 支援する to his room. I can't have that sort of thing going on, and I won't! it's altogether too creepy!"

Mrs. Morgan agreed.

Lydia had not been out in the evening for several days, she remembered, as she began to undress for the night. The 天候 had been unpleasant, and to stay in the warm, comfortable flat was no 広大な／多数の／重要な hardship. Even if she had gone out, Jaggs would have …を伴ってd her, she thought ironically.

And then she had a little twinge of 良心, remembering that Jaggs's presence on a memorable afternoon had saved her from 破壊.

She wondered for the twentieth time what was old Jaggs's history, and where Jack had 設立する him. Once she had been tempted to ask Jaggs himself, but the old man had 盗品故買者d with the question, and had talked ばく然と of having worked in the country, and she was as wise as she had been before.

But she must get rid of old Jaggs, she thought, as she switched off the light and kicked out the innumerable water-瓶／封じ込めるs, with which Mrs. Morgan, in mistaken 親切, had encumbered the bed... old Jaggs must go... he was a nuisance...

She woke with a start from a dreamless sleep. The clock in the hall was striking three. She realised this subconsciously. Her 注目する，もくろむs were 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on the window, which was open at the 底（に届く）. Mrs. Morgan had pulled it 負かす／撃墜する at the 最高の，を越す, but now it was wide open, and her heart began to 強くたたく, 強くたたく, 速く. Jaggs! He was her first thought. She would never have believed that she could have thought of that old man with such a warm glow of thankfulness. There was nothing to be seen. The 嵐／襲撃する of the 早期に night had passed over, and a faint light （機の）カム into the room from the 病弱なing moon. And then she saw the curtains move, and opened her mouth to 叫び声をあげる, but 恐れる had paralysed her 発言する／表明する, and she lay 星／主役にするing at the hangings, incapable of movement or sound. As she watched the curtain she saw it move again, and a 形態／調整 appeared faintly against the 暗い／優うつな background.

The （一定の）期間 was broken. She swung herself out of the opposite 味方する of the bed, and raced to the door, but the man was before her. Before she could 叫び声をあげる, a big 手渡す gripped her throat and flung her 支援する against the rail of the bed.

Horrified she 星／主役にするd into the cruel 直面する that leered 負かす／撃墜する at her, and felt the 支配する 強化する. And then as she looked into the 直面する she saw a sudden grimace, and sensed the terror in his 注目する，もくろむs. The 手渡す relaxed; he 泡d something thickly and fell sideways against the bed. And now she saw. A man had come through the doorway, a tall man, with a fair 耐えるd and 注目する，もくろむs that danced with insane joy.

He （機の）カム slowly toward her, wiping on his cuff the long-扱うd knife that had sent her 加害者 to the 床に打ち倒す.

He was mad. She knew it instinctively, and remembered in a 煙霧のかかった, 混乱させるd way, a paragraph she had read about an escaped lunatic. She tried to dash past him to the open door, but he caught her in the crook of his left arm, and 圧力（をかける）d her to him, 非常に高い 長，率いる and shoulders over her.

"You have no 権利 to sit on a 法廷，裁判所 戦争の, madam," he said with uncanny politeness, and at that moment the light in the room was switched on and Jaggs appeared in the doorway, his bearded lips parted in an ugly grin, a long-barrelled ピストル in his left 手渡す.

"減少（する） your knife," he said, "or I'll 減少（する） you."

The mad doctor turned his 長，率いる slowly and frowned at the 侵入者.

"Good morning, General," he said calmly. "You （機の）カム in time," and he threw the knife on to the ground. "We will try her によれば 規則s!"

CHAPTER XV

A TRAGIC AFFAIR IN THE WEST END.

MAD DOCTOR WOUNDS A BURGLAR IN A SOCIETY WOMAN'S BEDROOM.

"There was an 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の and 悲劇の sequel to the escape of Dr. Thun from Norwood 亡命, particulars of which appeared in our 早期に 版 of yesterday. This morning at four o'clock, in answer to a telephone call, 探偵，刑事-Sergeant Miller, …を伴ってd by another officer, went to 84, Cavendish Mansions, a flat 占領するd by Mrs. Meredith, and there 設立する and took into 保護／拘留 Dr. Algernon Thun, who had escaped from Norwood 亡命. In the room was also 設立する a man 指名するd Hoggins, a person 井戸／弁護士席 known to the police. It appears that Hoggins had 影響d an 入り口 into Mrs. Meredith's flat, descending from the roof by means of a rope, making his way into the 前提s through the window of Mrs. Meredith's bedroom. Whilst there he was （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd by Mrs. Meredith, who would undoubtedly have been 殺人d had not Dr. Thun, who, in some mysterious manner, had 伸び（る）d admission to the flat, 介入するd. In the struggle that followed the doctor, who is 苦しむing from the delusion of 迫害, 厳しく 負傷させるd the man, who is not 推定する／予想するd to live. He then turned his attention to the lady. Happily an old man who 作品 at the flat, who was sleeping on the 前提s at the time, was roused by the sound of the struggle, and 後継するd in 解放（する）ing the lady from the maniacal しっかり掴む of the 侵入者. The 負傷させるd 夜盗，押し込み強盗 was 除去するd to hospital and the lunatic was taken to the police 駅／配置する and was afterwards sent under a strong guard to the 亡命 from whence he had escaped. He made a rambling 声明 to the police to the 影響 that General Foch had 補助装置d his escape and had directed him to the home of his persecutors."

ジーンズ Briggerland put 負かす／撃墜する the paper and laughed.

"It is nothing to snigger about," growled Briggerland savagely.

"If I didn't laugh I should do something more emotional," said the girl coolly. "To think that that fool should go 支援する and make the 試みる／企てる 選び出す／独身-手渡すd. I never imagined that."

"Faire tells me that he's not 推定する／予想するd to live," said Mr. Briggerland. He rubbed his bald 長，率いる irritably. "I wonder if that lunatic is going to talk?"

"What does it 事柄 if he does?" said the girl impatiently.

"You said the other day—" he began.

"The other day it 事柄d, my dear father. To-day nothing 事柄s very much. I think we have got 井戸／弁護士席 out of it. I ignored all the lessons which my textbook teaches when I ゆだねるd work to other 手渡すs. Jaggs," she said softly.

"Eh?" said the father.

"I'm repeating a 井戸／弁護士席-beloved 指名する," she smiled and rose, 倍のing her serviette. "I am going for a long run in the country. Would you like to come? Mordon is very enthusiastic about the new car, the 法案 for which, by the way, （機の）カム in this morning. Have we any money?"

"A few thousands," said her father, rubbing his chin. "ジーンズ, we shall have to sell something unless things brighten."

ジーンズ's lips twitched, but she said nothing.

On her way to the open road she called at Cavendish Mansions, and was neither surprised nor discomfited to discover that Jack Glover was there.

"My dear," she said, 温かく clasping both the girl's 手渡すs in hers, "I was so shocked when I read the news! How terrible it must have been for you."

Lydia was looking pale, and there were dark 影をつくる／尾行するs under her 注目する，もくろむs, but she 扱う／治療するd the 事柄 cheerfully.

"I've just been trying to explain to Mr. Glover what happened. Unfortunately, the wonderful Jaggs is not here. He knows more about it than I, for I 崩壊（する）d in the most feminine way."

"How did he get in—I mean this madman?" asked the girl.

"Through the door."

It was Jack who answered.

"It is the last way in the world a lunatic would enter a flat, isn't it? He （機の）カム in with a 重要な, and he was brought here by somebody who struck a match to make sure it was the 権利 number."

"He might have struck the match himself," said ジーンズ, "but you're so clever that you would not say a thing like that unless you had proof."

"We 設立する two matches in the hall outside," said Jack, "and when Dr. Thun was searched no matches were 設立する on him, and I have since learnt that, like most homicidal lunatics, he had a horror of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 in any form. The doctor to whom I have been talking is 絶対 sure that he would not have struck the match himself. Oh, by the way, 行方不明になる Briggerland, your father met this unfortunate man. I understand he paid a visit to the 亡命 a few days ago?"

"Yes, he did," she answered without hesitation. "He was talking about him this morning. You see, father has been making a 小旅行する of the 亡命s. He is 令状ing a 調書をとる／予約する about such things. Father was horrified when he heard the man had escaped, because the doctor told him that he was a 特に dangerous lunatic. But who would have imagined he would have turned up here?"

Her big, sad 注目する，もくろむs were 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on Jack as she shook her 長，率いる in wonder.

"If one had read that in a 調書をとる／予約する one would never have believed it, would one?"

"And the man Hoggins," said Jack, who did not 株 her wonder. "He was by way of 存在 an 知識 of yours, a member of your father's club, wasn't he?"

She knit her brows.

"I don't remember the 指名する, but if he is a very bad character," she said with a little smile, "I should say distinctly that he was a member of father's club! Poor daddy, I don't think he will ever regenerate the East End."

"I don't think he will," agreed Jack heartily. "The question is, whether the East End will ever regenerate him."

A slow smile 夜明けd on her 直面する.

"How unkind!" she said, mockery in her 注目する，もくろむs now. "I wonder why you dislike him so. He is so very 害のない, really. My dear," she turned to the girl with a gesture of helplessness. "I am afraid that even in this 事件／事情／状勢 Mr. Glover is seeing my 悪意のある 影響（力）!"

"You're the most un-悪意のある person I have ever met, ジーンズ," laughed Lydia, "and Mr. Glover doesn't really think all these horrid things."

"Doesn't he?" said ジーンズ softly, and Jack saw that she was shaking with laughter.

There was a 確かな deadly humour in the 状況／情勢 which tickled him too, and he grinned.

"I wish to heaven you'd get married and settle 負かす／撃墜する, 行方不明になる Briggerland," he said incautiously.

It was her chance. She shook her 長，率いる, the lips drooped, the 注目する，もくろむs again grew moist with the 苦痛 she could call to them at will.

"I wish I could," she said in a トン a little above a whisper, "but, Jack, I could never marry you, never!"

She left Jack Glover bereft of speech, 全く incapable of 誘発するing so much as a moan.

Lydia, returning from 護衛するing her 訪問者 to the door, saw his 当惑 and checked his impulsive explanation a little coldly.

"I—I believed you when you said it wasn't true, Mr. Glover," she said, and there was a reproach in her トン for which she hated herself afterwards.

CHAPTER XVI

Lydia had 約束d to go to the theatre that night with Mrs. Cole- Mortimer, and she was glad of the excuse to leave her 悲劇の home.

Mrs. Cole-Mortimer, who was not lavish in the 事柄 of entertainments that cost money, had a box, and although Lydia had seen the piece before (it was in fact the very play she had …に出席するd to sketch dresses on the night of her adventure) it was a 救済 to sit in silence, which her hostess, with singular discretion, did not 試みる／企てる to 乱す.

It was during the last 行為／法令／行動する that Mrs. Cole-Mortimer gave her an 招待 which she 受託するd joyfully.

"I've got a house at Cap ツバメ," said Mrs. Cole-Mortimer. "It is only a tiny place, but I think you would rather like it. I hate going to the Riviera alone, so if you care to come as my guest, I shall be most happy to chaperon you. They are bringing my ヨット 負かす／撃墜する to Monaco, so we せねばならない have a really good time."

Lydia 受託するd the ヨット and the house as she had 受託するd the 招待—without question. That the ヨット had been 借り切る／憲章d that morning and the house 雇うd by 電報電信 on the previous day, she could not be 推定する／予想するd to guess. For all she knew, Mrs. Cole-Mortimer might be a very 豊富な woman, and in her wildest dreams she did not imagine that ジーンズ Briggerland had 供給するd the money for both.

It had not been a delicate 交渉, because Mrs. Cole-Mortimer had the 肌 of a pachyderm.

Years later Lydia discovered that the woman lived on borrowed money, money which never could and never would be repaid, and which the borrower had no 意向 of refunding.

A hint dropped by ジーンズ that there was somebody on the Riviera whom she 願望（する）d to 会合，会う, without her father's knowledge, …を伴ってd by the plain 声明 that she would 支払う／賃金 all expenses, was やめる 十分な for Mrs. Cole-Mortimer, and she had fallen in with her patron's 見解（をとる）s as readily as she had agreed to 提起する／ポーズをとる as a friend of Meredith's. To do her 司法（官）, she had the faculty of believing in her own 発明, and she was やめる 満足させるd that James Meredith had been a 広大な／多数の／重要な personal friend of hers, just as she would believe that the house on the Riviera and the little steam-ヨット had been procured out of her own purse.

It was harder for her, however, to explain the 広大な／多数の／重要な system which she was going to work in Monte Carlo and which was to make everybody's fortune.

Lydia, who was no gambler and only mildly 利益／興味d in games of chance, 陳列する，発揮するd so little 証拠 of 利益／興味 in the 計画／陰謀 that Mrs. Cole-Mortimer groaned her despair, not knowing that she was 推定する／予想するd to do no more than 動かす the 国／地域 for the 刈る which ジーンズ Briggerland would 工場／植物 and 得る.

They went on to supper at one of the clubs, and Lydia thought with amusement of poor old Jaggs, who 明らかに took his 職業 very 本気で indeed.

Again her angle of 見通し had 転換d, and her 尊敬（する）・点 for the old man had 打ち勝つ any annoyance his uncouth presence brought to her.

As she alighted at the door of the club she looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, half 推定する／予想するing to see him. The club 入り口 was up a 味方する street off Leicester Square, an ill-lit thoroughfare which favoured Mr. Jaggs's retiring methods, but there was no 調印する of him, and she did not wait in the 霧雨ing night to make any closer 査察.

Mrs. Cole-Mortimer had not disguised the 可能性 of ジーンズ Briggerland 存在 at the club, and they 設立する her with a gay party of young people, sitting in one of the 休会s. ジーンズ made a place for the girl by her 味方する and introduced her to half a dozen people whose 指名するs Lydia did not catch, and never afterwards remembered.

Mr. Marcus Stepney, however, that sleek, dark man, who 屈服するd over her 手渡す and seemed as though he were going to kiss it, she had met before, and her second impression of him was even いっそう少なく favourable than the first.

"Do you dance?" asked ジーンズ.

A jazz 禁止（する）d was playing an 感染性の two-step. At the girl's nod ジーンズ beckoned one of her party, a tall, handsome boy who throughout the その後の dance babbled into Lydia's ear an incessant pæan in 賞賛する of ジーンズ Briggerland.

Lydia was amused.

"Of course she is very beautiful," she said in answer to the interminable repetition of his question. "I think she's lovely."

"That's what I say," said the young man, whom she discovered was Lord Stoker. "The most amazingly beautiful creature on the earth, I think."

"Of course you're awfully good-looking, too," he 失敗d, and Lydia laughed aloud.

"But she's got enemies," said the young man viciously, "and if ever I 会合，会う that infernal cad, Glover, he'll be sorry."

The smile left Lydia's 直面する.

"Mr. Glover is a friend of 地雷," she said a little quickly.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "but—"

"Does 行方不明になる Briggerland say he is so very bad?"

"Of course not. She never says a word against him really." His lordship 急いでd to exonerate his idol. "She just says she doesn't know how long she's going to stand his 迫害s. It breaks one's heart to see how sad this—your friend makes her."

Lydia was a very thoughtful girl for the 残り／休憩（する） of the evening; she was beginning in a 煙霧のかかった way to see things which she had not seen before. Of course ジーンズ never said anything against Jack Glover. And yet she had 後継するd in 誘発するing this 青年 to fury against the lawyer, and Lydia realised, with a sense of amazement, that ジーンズ had also made her feel bad about Jack. And yet she had said nothing but 甘い things.

When she got 支援する to the flat that night she 設立する that Mr. Jaggs had not been there all the evening. He （機の）カム in a few minutes after her, wrapped up in an old army coat, and from his 外見 she gathered that he had been standing out in the rain and sleet the whole of the evening.

"Why, Jaggs," she said impulsively, "wherever have you been?"

"Just dodging 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, 行方不明になる," he grunted. "Having a look at the little ducks in the pond."

"You've been outside the theatre, and you've been waiting outside Niro's Club," she said accusingly.

"Don't know it, 行方不明になる," he said. "One theayter is as much like another one to me."

"You must take your things off and let Mrs. Morgan 乾燥した，日照りの your 着せる／賦与するs," she 主張するd, but he would not hear of this, 妥協ing only with stripping his sodden 広大な／多数の／重要な coat.

He disappeared into his dark room, there to ruminate upon such 事柄s as appeared of 利益／興味 to him. A bed had been placed for him, but only once had he slept on it.

After the flat grew still and the last click of the switch told that the last light had been 消滅させるd, he opened the door softly, and, carrying a 議長，司会を務める in his 手渡す, he placed this gently with its 支援する to the 前線 door, and there he sat and dozed throughout the night. When Lydia woke the next morning he was gone as usual.

CHAPTER XVII

Lydia had plenty to 占領する her days. The house in Curzon Street had been bought and she had been a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する of furnishers, paper-hangers and fitters of all variety.

The trip to the Riviera （機の）カム at the 権利 moment. She could leave Mrs. Morgan in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 and come 支援する to her new home, which was to be ready in two months.

Amongst other things, the problem of the watchful Mr. Jaggs would be settled automatically.

She spoke to him that night when he （機の）カム.

"By the way, Mr. Jaggs, I am going to the South of フラン next week."

"A pretty place by all accounts," volunteered Mr. Jaggs.

"A lovely place—by all accounts," repeated Lydia with a smile. "And you're going to have a holiday, Mr. Jaggs. By the way, what am I to 支払う／賃金 you?"

"The gentleman 支払う／賃金s me, 行方不明になる," said Mr. Jaggs with a 匂いをかぐ. "The lawyer gentleman."

"井戸／弁護士席, he must continue 支払う／賃金ing you whilst I am away," said the girl. "I am very 感謝する to you and I want to give you a little 現在の before I go. Is there anything you would like, Mr. Jaggs?"

Mr. Jaggs rubbed his 耐えるd, scratched his 長，率いる and thought he would like a 麻薬を吸う.

"Though bless you, 行方不明になる, I don't want any 現在の."

"You shall have the best 麻薬を吸う I can buy," said the girl. "It seems very 不十分な."

"I'd rather have a briar, 行方不明になる," said old Jaggs 誤った.

He was on 義務 until the morning she left, and although she rose 早期に he had gone. She was disappointed, for she had not given him the handsome 事例／患者 of 麻薬を吸うs she had bought, and she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to thank him. She felt she had 行為／法令／行動するd rather meanly に向かって him. She 借りがあるd her life to him twice.

"Didn't you see him go?" she asked Mrs. Morgan.

"No, 行方不明になる," the stout housekeeper shook her 長，率いる. "I was up at six and he'd gone then, but he'd left his 議長，司会を務める in the passage—I've got an idea that's where he slept, 行方不明になる, if he slept at all."

"Poor old man," said the girl gently. "I 港／避難所't been very 肉親，親類d to him, have I? And I do 借りがある him such a lot."

"Maybe he'll turn up again," said Mrs. Morgan hopefully. She had the mother feeling for the old, which is one of the beauties of her class, and she regretted Lydia's absence probably as much because it would entail the 見えなくなる of old Jaggs as for the loss of her mistress. But old Jaggs did not turn up. Lydia hoped to see him at the 駅／配置する, hovering on the 郊外s of the （人が）群がる in his furtive way, but she was disappointed.

She left by the eleven o'clock train, joining Mrs. Cole-Mortimer on the 駅／配置する. That lady had arranged to spend a day in Paris, and the girl was not sorry, after a somewhat bad crossing of the English Channel, that she had not to continue her 旅行 through the night.

The South of フラン was to be a 発覚 to her. She had no conception of the 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の change of 気候 and vegetation that could be experienced in one country.

She passed from a drizzly, bedraggled Paris into a land of 日光 and gentle 微風s; from the 明らかにする sullen lands of the シャンペン酒, into a country where flowers grew by the 味方する of the 鉄道, and that in February; to a 半分-tropic land, fragrant with flowers, to white beaches by a blue, lazy sea and a sky over all unflecked by clouds.

It took her breath away, the beauty of it; and the sense and genial warmth of it. The trees laden with lemons, the wisteria on the 塀で囲むs, the white dust on the road, and the glory of the golden mimosa that scented the 空気／公表する with its rare and lovely perfume.

They left the train at Nice and drove along the Grande Corniche. Mrs. Cole-Mortimer had a call to make in Monte Carlo and the girl sat 支援する in the car and drank in the beauty of this delicious 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, whilst her hostess interviewed the house スパイ／執行官.

Surely the place must be kept under glass. It looked so fresh and clean and 解放する／自由な from stain.

The Casino disappointed her—it was a place of plaster and stucco, and did not seem built for 永久の use.

They drove 支援する part of the way they had come, on to the 半島 of Cap ツバメ and she had a glimpse of beautiful 郊外住宅s between the pines and queer little roads that led into mysterious dells. Presently the car drew up before a good looking house (even Mrs. Cole-Mortimer was surprised into an 表現 of her satisfaction at the sight of it).

Lydia, who thought that this was Mrs. Cole-Mortimer's own demesne, was delighted.

"You are lucky to have a beautiful home like this, Mrs. Cole- Mortimer," she said, "it must be heavenly living here."

The habit of wealth had not been so 井戸／弁護士席 acquired that she could realise that she also could have a beautiful house if she wished—she thought of that later. Nor did she 推定する／予想する to find ジーンズ Briggerland there, and Mr. Briggerland too, sitting on a big 茎 議長，司会を務める on the veranda overlooking the sea and smoking a cigar of peace.

Mrs. Cole-Mortimer had been very careful to 避ける all について言及する of ジーンズ on the 旅行.

"Didn't I tell you they would be here?" she said in careless amazement. "Why, of course, dear ジーンズ left two days before we did. It makes such a nice little party. Do you play 橋（渡しをする）?"

Lydia did not play 橋（渡しをする）, but was willing to be taught.

She spent the remaining hour of daylight 調査するing the grounds which led 負かす／撃墜する to the road which fringed the sea.

She could look across at the lights already beginning to twinkle at Monte Carlo, to the white ヨットs lying off Monaco, and さらに先に along the coast to a little cluster of lights that stood for Beaulieu.

"It is glorious," she said, 製図／抽選 a long breath.

Mrs. Cole-Mortimer, who had …を伴ってd her in her stroll, purred the purr of the pleased patron whose protégée has been thankful for favours received.

Dinner was a gay meal, for ジーンズ was in her brightest mood. She had a keen sense of fun and her sly little sallies, いつかs 目的（とする）d at her father, いつかs at Lydia's expense, but more often directed at people in the social world, whose 指名するs were 世帯 words, kept Lydia in a constant gurgle of laughter.

Mrs. Cole-Mortimer alone was nervous and ill at 緩和する. She had learnt unpleasant news and was not sure whether she should tell the company or keep her secret to herself. In such 窮地, weak people take the most sensational course, and presently she dropped her bombshell.

"Celeste says that the gardener's little boy has malignant smallpox," she almost wailed.

ジーンズ was telling a funny story to the girl who sat by her, and did not pause for so much as a second in her narrative. The 影響 on Mr. Briggerland was, however, wholly 満足な to Mrs. Cole-Mortimer. He 押し進めるd 支援する his 議長，司会を務める and blinked at his "hostess."

"Smallpox?" he said in horror, "here—in Cap ツバメ? Good God, did you hear that, ジーンズ?"

"Did I hear what?" she asked lazily, "about the gardener's little boy? Oh, yes. There has been やめる an 疫病／流行性の on the Italian Riviera, in fact they の近くにd the frontier last week."

"But—but here!" spluttered Briggerland.

Lydia could only look at him in open-注目する，もくろむd amazement. The big man's terror was pitiably 明らかな. The 巡査 肌 had turned a dirty grey, his lower lip was trembling like a 脅すd child's.

"Why not here?" said ジーンズ coolly, "there is nothing to be 脅すd about. Have you been vaccinated recently?" she turned to the girl, and Lydia shook her 長，率いる.

"Not since I was a baby—and then I believe the 操作／手術 was not a success."

"Anyway, the child is 孤立するd in the cottage and they are taking him to Nice to-night," said ジーンズ. "Poor little fellow! Even his own mother has 砂漠d him. Are you going to the Casino?" she asked.

"I don't know," replied Lydia. "I'm very tired but I should love to go."

"Take her, father—and you go, Margaret. By the time you return the 感染 will be 除去するd."

"Won't you come too?" asked Lydia.

"No, I'll stay at home to-night. I turned my ankle to-day and it is rather stiff. Father!"

This time her 発言する／表明する was sharp, 脅迫的な almost, thought Lydia, and Mr. Briggerland made an heroic 試みる／企てる to 回復する his self-所有／入手.

"Cer—certainly, my dear—I shall be delighted—er—delighted."

He saw her alone whilst Lydia was changing in her lovely big dressing-room, overlooking the sea.

"Why didn't you tell me there was smallpox in Cap ツバメ?" he 需要・要求するd fretfully.

"Because I didn't know till Margaret relieved her mind at our expense," said his daughter coolly. "I had to say something. Besides, I'd heard one of the maids say that somebody's mother had 砂漠d him—I fitted it in. What a funk you are, father!"

"I hate the very thought of 病気," he growled. "Why aren't you coming with us—there is nothing the 事柄 with your ankle?"

"Because I prefer to stay at home."

He looked at her suspiciously.

"ジーンズ," he said in a milder 発言する／表明する, "hadn't we better let up on the girl for a bit—until that lunatic doctor 事件／事情／状勢 has blown over?"

She reached out and took a gold 事例／患者 from his waistcoat pocket, 抽出するd a cigarette and 取って代わるd the 事例／患者 before she spoke.

"We can't afford to 'let up' as you call it, for a 選び出す／独身 hour. Do you realise that any day her lawyer may 説得する her to make a will leaving her money to a—a home for cats, or something 平等に untouchable? If there was no Jack Glover we could afford to wait months. And I'm いっそう少なく troubled about him than I am about the man Jaggs. Father, you will be glad to learn that I am almost afraid of that freakish old man."

"Neither of them are here—" he began.

"正確に／まさに," said ジーンズ, "neither are here—Lydia had a 電報電信 from him just before dinner asking if he could come to see her next week."

At this moment Lydia returned and ジーンズ Briggerland 注目する，もくろむd her 批判的に.

"My dear, you look lovely," she said and kissed her.

Mr. Briggerland's nose wrinkled, as it always did when his daughter shocked him.

CHAPTER XVIII

ジーンズ Briggerland waited until she heard the sound of the 出発／死ing car 沈む to a faint hum, then she went up to her room, opened the bureau and took out a long and tightly fitting dust-coat that she wore when she was モーターing. She had seen a large 瓶／封じ込める of peroxide in Mrs. Cole- Mortimer's room. It probably 与える／捧げるd to the dazzling glories of Mrs. Cole-Mortimer's hair, but it was also a powerful germicide. She soaked a big silk handkerchief in a 水盤／入り江 of water, to which she 追加するd a generous 量 of the 麻薬, and squeezing the handkerchief nearly 乾燥した，日照りの, she knotted it loosely about her neck. A rubber bathing cap she pulled 負かす／撃墜する over her 長，率いる, and smiled at her queer reflection in the glass. Then she 設立する a pair of kid gloves and drew them on.

She turned out the light and went softly 負かす／撃墜する the carpeted stairs. The servants were at their dinner, and she opened the 前線 door and crossed the lawn into a belt of trees, beyond which she knew, for she had been in the house two days, was the gardener's cottage.

A 薄暗い light burnt in one of the two rooms and the window was uncurtained. She saw the bed and its tiny occupant, but nobody else was in the room. The maid had said that the mother had 砂漠d the little 苦しんでいる人, but this was not やめる true. The doctor had ordered the mother into 孤立／分離, and had sent a nurse from the 感染 hospital to take her place. That lady, at the moment, was waiting at the end of the avenue for the 救急車 to arrive.

ジーンズ opened the door and stepped in, pulling up the saturated handkerchief until it covered nose and mouth. The place was 砂漠d, and, without a moment's hesitation, she 解除するd the child, wrapped a 一面に覆う／毛布 about it and crossed the lawn again. She went 静かに up the stairs straight to Lydia's room. There was enough light from the dressing-room to see the bed, and unwrapping the 一面に覆う／毛布 she pulled 支援する the covers and laid him gently in the bed. The child was unconscious. The hideous 示すs of the 病気 had developed with remarkable rapidity and he made no sound.

She sat 負かす／撃墜する in a 議長，司会を務める, waiting. Her almost 残忍な 静める was not ruffled by so much as a second's 逮捕. She had 供給するd for every contingency and was ready with a 完全にする explanation, whatever happened.

Half an hour passed, and then rising, she wrapped the child in the 一面に覆う／毛布 and carried him 支援する to the cottage. She heard the purr of the モーター and footsteps as she flitted 支援する through the trees.

First she went to Lydia's room and straightened the bed, spraying the room with the faint perfume which she 設立する on the dressing （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する; then she went 支援する again into the garden, stripped off the dust coat, cap and handkerchief, rolling them into a bundle, which she thrust through the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s of an open window which she knew ventilated a cellar. Last of all she stripped her gloves and sent them after the bundle.

She heard the 発言する／表明するs of the nurse and attendant as they carried the child to the 救急車.

"Poor little kid," she murmured, "I hope he gets better."

And, strangely enough, she meant it.

* * * * *

It had been a thrilling evening for Lydia, and she returned to the house at Cap ツバメ very tired, but very happy. She was seeing a new world, a world the like of which had never been 明らかにする／漏らすd to her, and though she could have slept, and her 長，率いる did nod in the car, she roused herself to talk it all over again with the 同情的な ジーンズ.

Mrs. Cole-Mortimer retired 早期に. Mr. Briggerland had gone up to bed the moment he returned, and Lydia would have been glad to have ended her conversation; since her 長，率いる reeled with weariness, but ジーンズ was very talkative, until—

"My dear, if I don't go to bed I shall sleep on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する," smiled Lydia, rising and 抑えるing a yawn.

"I'm so sorry," said the penitent ジーンズ.

She …を伴ってd the girl upstairs, her arm about her waist, and left her at the door of her dressing-room.

A maid had laid out her night things on a big settee (a little to Lydia's surprise) and she undressed quickly.

She opened the door of her bedroom, her 手渡す was on a switch, when she was conscious of a faint and not unpleasant odour. It was a clean, pungent smell. "消毒薬," said her brain mechanically. She turned on the light, wondering where it （機の）カム from. And then as she crossed the room she （機の）カム in sight of her bed and stopped, for it was saturated with water —water that dropped from the hanging coverlet, and made little pools on the 床に打ち倒す. From the 長，率いる of the bed to the foot there was not one 乾燥した，日照りの place. Whosoever had done the work was 徹底的な. 一面に覆う／毛布s, sheets, pillows were soddened, and from the soaked 集まり （機の）カム a faint acrid aroma which she recognised, even before she saw on the 床に打ち倒す an empty 瓶／封じ込める labelled "Peroxide of Hydrogen."

She could only stand and 星／主役にする. It was too late to 誘発する the 世帯, and she remembered that there was a very comfortable settee in the dressing-room with a rug and a pillow, and she went 支援する.

A few minutes later she was 急速な／放蕩な asleep. Not so 行方不明になる Briggerland, who was sitting up in bed, a cigarette between her lips, a 激しい 容積／容量 on her 膝s, reading:

"Such malignant 事例／患者s are almost without exception 速く 致命的な, いつかs so 早期に that no 調印する of the characteristic symptoms appear at all," she read and, dropping the 調書をとる／予約する on the 床に打ち倒す, 消滅させるd her cigarette on an alabaster tray, and settled herself to sleep. She was dozing when she remembered that she had forgotten to say her 祈りs.

"Oh, damn!" said ジーンズ, getting out reluctantly to ひさまづく on the 冷淡な 床に打ち倒す by the 味方する of the bed.

CHAPTER XIX

Her maid woke ジーンズ Briggerland at eight o'clock the next morning.

"Oh, 行方不明になる," she said, as she drew up the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する for the chocolate, "have you heard about Mrs. Meredith?"

ジーンズ blinked open her 注目する，もくろむs, slipped into her dressing jacket and sat up with a yawn.

"Have I heard about Mrs. Meredith? Many times," she said.

"But what somebody did last night, 行方不明になる?"

ジーンズ was wide awake now.

"What has happened to Mrs. Meredith?" she asked.

"Why, 行方不明になる, somebody played a practical joke on her. Her bed's sopping."

"Sopping?" frowned the girl.

"Yes, 行方不明になる," the woman nodded. "They must have 注ぐd buckets of water over it, and used up all Mrs. Cole-Mortimer's peroxide, what she uses for keeping her 手渡すs nice."

ジーンズ swung out of her bed and sat looking 負かす／撃墜する at her tiny white feet.

"Where did Mrs. Meredith sleep? Why didn't she wake us up?"

"She slept in the dressing-room, 行方不明になる. I don't suppose the young lady liked making a fuss."

"Who did it?"

"I don't know who did it. It's a silly 肉親，親類d of practical joke, and I know 非，不，無 of the maids would have dared, not the French ones."

ジーンズ put her feet into her slippers, 交流d her jacket for a gown, and went on a 小旅行する of 査察.

Lydia was dressing in her room, and the sound of her fresh, young 発言する／表明する, as she carolled out of sheer love of life, （機の）カム to the girl before she turned into the room.

One ちらりと見ること at the bed was 十分な. It was still wet, and the empty peroxide 瓶／封じ込める told its own story.

ジーンズ ちらりと見ることd at it thoughtfully as she crossed into the dressing- room.

"Whatever happened last night, Lydia?"

Lydia turned at the 発言する／表明する.

"Oh, the bed you mean," she made a little 直面する. "Heaven knows. It occurred to me this morning that some person, out of mistaken 親切, had started to 殺菌する the room—it was only this morning that I 解任するd the little boy who was ill—and had overdone it."

"They've certainly overdone it," said ジーンズ grimly. "I wonder what poor Mrs. Cole-Mortimer will say. You 港／避難所't the slightest idea—"

"Not the slightest idea," said Lydia, answering the unspoken question.

"I'll see Mrs. Cole-Mortimer and get her to change your bed—there's another room you could have," 示唆するd ジーンズ.

She went 支援する to her own apartment, bathed and dressed leisurely.

She 設立する her father in the garden reading the Nicoise, under the shade of a bush, for the sun was not warm, but at that hour, blinding.

"I've changed my 計画（する）s," she said without 予選.

He looked up over his glasses.

"I didn't know you had any," he said with 激しい humour.

"I ーするつもりであるd going 支援する to London and taking you with me," she said 突然に.

"支援する to London?" he said incredulously. "I thought you were staying on for a month."

"I probably shall now," she said, pulling up a basket-議長，司会を務める and sitting by his 味方する. "Give me a cigarette."

"You're smoking a lot lately," he said as he 手渡すd his 事例／患者 to her.

"I know I am."

"Have your 神経s gone wrong?"

She looked at him out of the corner of her 注目する，もくろむ and her lips curled.

"It wouldn't be remarkable if I 相続するd a little of your yellow streak," she said coolly, and he growled something under his breath. "No, my 神経s are all 権利, but a cigarette helps me to think."

"A yellow streak, have I?" Mr. Briggerland was annoyed. "And I've been out since five o'clock this morning—" he stopped.

"Doing—what?" she asked curiously.

"Never mind," he said with a lofty gesture.

Thus they sat, busy with their own thoughts, for a ４半期/4分の1 of an hour.

"ジーンズ."

"Yes," she said without turning her 長，率いる.

"Don't you think we'd better give this up and get 支援する to London? Lord Stoker is pretty keen on you."

"I'm not pretty keen on him," she said decidedly. "He has his regimental 支払う／賃金 and &続けざまに猛撃する;500 a year, two 広い地所s, mortgaged, no brains and a 肩書を与える—what is the use of his 肩書を与える to me? As much use as a coat of paint! Beside which, I am essentially democratic."

He chuckled, and there was another silence.

"Do you think the lawyer is keen on the girl?"

"Jack Glover?"

Mr. Briggerland nodded.

"I imagine he is," said ジーンズ thoughtfully. "I like Jack—he's clever. He has all the moral 質s which one admires so much in the abstract. I could love Jack myself."

"Could he love you?" bantered her father.

"He couldn't," she said すぐに. "Jack would be a happy man if he saw me stand in Jim Meredith's place in the Old Bailey. No, I have no illusion about Jack's affections."

"He's after Lydia's money I suppose," said Mr. Briggerland, 一打／打撃ing his bald 長，率いる.

"Don't be a fool," was the 静める reply. "That 肉親，親類d of man doesn't worry about a girl's money. I wish Lydia was dead," she 追加するd without malice. "It would make things so 平易な and smooth."

Her father swallowed something.

"You shock me いつかs, ジーンズ," he said, a 声明 which amused her.

"You're such a half-and-half man," she said with a 公式文書，認める of contempt in her 発言する／表明する. "You were やめる willing to 利益 by Jim Meredith's death; you killed him as 冷淡な-bloodedly as you killed poor little Bulford, and yet you must whine and snivel whenever your 行為s are put into plain language. What does it 事柄 if Lydia dies now or in fifty years time?" she asked. "It would be different if she were immortal. You people attach so much importance to human life—the 古代のs, and the Japanese amongst the modern, are the only people who have the 事柄 in true 視野. It is no more cruel to kill a human 存在 than it is to 削減（する） the throat of a pig to 供給する you with bacon. There's hardly a dish at your （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する which doesn't 代表する wilful 殺人, and yet you never think of it, but because the man animal can talk and dresses himself or herself in queer animal and vegetable fabrics, and decorates the 団体／死体 with bits of metal and pieces of glittering quartz, you give its life a value which you 否定する to the cattle within your gates! 殺人，大当り is a 事柄 of expediency. Permissible if you call it war, terrible if you call it 殺人. To me it is just 殺人，大当り. If you are caught in the 行為／法令／行動する of 殺人，大当り they kill you, and people say it is 権利 to do so. The sacredness of human life is a スローガン invented by cowards who 恐れる death—as you do."

"Don't you, ジーンズ?" he asked in a hushed 発言する／表明する.

"I 恐れる life without money," she said 静かに. "I 恐れる long days of work for a callous, leering 雇用者, and ひもで縛る-hanging in a （人が）群がるd tube on my way home to one 哀れな room and the 冷淡な mutton of yesterday. I 恐れる getting up and making my own bed and washing my own handkerchiefs and blouses, and renovating last year's hats to make them look like this year's. I 恐れる a poor husband and a 行列 of children, and doing the 家事 with an incompetent maid, or maybe without any at all. Those are the things I 恐れる, Mr. Briggerland."

She dusted the ash from her dress and got up.

"I 港／避難所't forgotten the life we lived at Ealing," she said 意味ありげに.

She looked across the bay to Monte Carlo glittering in the morning sunlight, to the green-capped 長，率いる of Cap-d'Ail, to Beaulieu, a jewel 始める，決める in greystone and shook her 長，率いる.

"'It is written'," she 引用するd sombrely and left him in the 中央 of the question he was asking. She strolled 支援する to the house and joined Lydia who was looking radiantly beautiful in a new dress of silver grey charmeuse.

CHAPTER XX

"Have you solved the mystery of the 潜水するd bed?" smiled ジーンズ.

Lydia laughed.

"I'm not 調査（する）ing too 深く，強烈に into the 事柄," she said. "Poor Mrs. Cole-Mortimer was terribly upset."

"She would be," said ジーンズ. "It was her own eiderdown!"

This was the first hint Lydia had received that the house was rented furnished.

They drove into Nice that morning, and Lydia, remembering Jack Glover's 発言／述べるs, looked closely at the chauffeur, and was startled to see a resemblance between him and the man who had driven the taxicab on the night she had been carried off from the theatre. It is true that the taxi- driver had a moustache and that this man was clean-shaven, and moreover, had tiny 味方する whiskers, but there was a resemblance.

"Have you had your driver long?" she asked as they were running through Monte Carlo, along the sea road.

"Mordon? Yes, we have had him six or seven years," said ジーンズ carelessly. "He 運動s us when we are on the continent, you know. He speaks French perfectly and is an excellent driver. Father has tried to 説得する him to come to England, but he hates London—he was telling me the other day that he hadn't been there for ten years."

That 性質の／したい気がして of the resemblance, thought Lydia, and yet—she could remember his 発言する／表明する, she thought, and when they alighted on the Promenade des Anglaise she spoke to him. He replied in French, and it is impossible to （悪事，秘密などを）発見する points of resemblance in a 発言する／表明する that speaks one language and the same 発言する／表明する when it speaks another.

The promenade was （人が）群がるd with saunterers. A 禁止（する）d was playing by the jetty and although the 勝利，勝つd was colder than it had been at Cap ツバメ the sun was warm enough to necessitate the 開始 of a parasol.

It was a race week, and the two girls lunched at the Negrito. They were in the 中央 of their meal when a man （機の）カム toward them and Lydia recognised Mr. Marcus Stepney. This dark, suave man was no favourite of hers, though why she could not have explained. His manners were always perfect and, に向かって her, deferential.

As usual, he was dressed with the precision of a fashion-plate. Mr. Marcus Stepney was a man, a かなりの 部分 of whose time was taken up every morning by the choice of cravats and socks and shirts. Though Lydia did not know this, his smartness, 加える a 確かな dexterity with cards, was his 在庫／株 in 貿易（する）. No breath of スキャンダル had touched him, he moved in a good 始める，決める and was always at the 権利 place at the proper season.

When Aix was 十分な he was 確かな to be 設立する at the Palace, in the Deauville week you would find him at the Casino punting mildly at the baccarat （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. And after the rooms were の近くにd, and even the Sports Club at Monte Carlo had shut its doors, there was always a little game to be had in the hotels and in Marcus Stepney's 私的な sitting-room.

And it cannot be 否定するd that Mr. Stepney was lucky. He won 十分な at these out-of-hour games to support him nobly through the 裁判，公判s and vicissitudes which the public （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs （打撃，刑罰などを）与える upon their votaries.

"Going to the races," he said, "how very fortunate! Will you come along with me? I can give you three good 勝利者s."

"I have no money to 賭事," said ジーンズ, "I am a poor woman. Lydia, who is rolling in wealth, can afford to take your tips, Marcus."

Marcus looked at Lydia with a 思索的な 注目する，もくろむ.

"If you 港／避難所't any money with you, don't worry. I have plenty and you can 支払う／賃金 me afterwards. I could make you a million フランs to-day."

"Thank you," said ジーンズ coolly, "but Mrs. Meredith does not bet so ひどく."

Her トン was a （疑いを）晴らす intimation to the man of wits that he was impinging upon somebody else's 保存するs and he grinned amiably.

にもかかわらず, it was a profitable afternoon for Lydia. She （機の）カム 支援する to Cap ツバメ twenty thousand フランs richer than she had been when she started off.

"Lydia's had a lot of luck she tells me," said Mr. Briggerland.

"Yes. She won about five hundred 続けざまに猛撃するs," said his daughter. "Marcus was laying ground bait. She did not know what horses he had 支援するd until after the race was run, when he invariably appeared with a few mille公式文書，認めるs and Lydia's 楽しみ was pathetic. Of course she didn't 勝利，勝つ anything. The twenty thousand フランs was a sprat—he's coming to- night to see how the 鯨s are blowing!"

Mr. Marcus Stepney arrived punctually, and, to Mr. Briggerland's disgust, was dressed for dinner, a fact which necessitated the older man's hurried 退却／保養地 and reappearance in 従来の evening wear.

Marcus Stepney's behaviour at dinner was faultless. He 充てるd himself in the main to Mrs. Cole-Mortimer and ジーンズ, who 明らかに never looked at him and yet 観察するd his every movement, knew that he was 単に waiting his 適切な時期.

It （機の）カム when the dinner was over and the party 延期，休会するd to the big stoep 直面するing the sea. The night was chilly and Mr. Stepney 設立する 包むs and furs for the ladies, and so manoeuvred the 協定 of the 議長，司会を務めるs that Lydia and he were detached from the 残りの人，物 of the party, not by any 広大な／多数の／重要な distance, but 十分な, as the experienced Marcus knew, to 除去する a murmured conversation from the はっきりした eavesdropper.

ジーンズ, who was carrying on a three-cornered conversation with her father and Mrs. Cole-Mortimer, did not 動かす, until she saw, by the light of a shaded lamp in the roof, the dark 長，率いる of Mr. Marcus Stepney droop more confidently に向かって his companion. Then she rose and strolled across.

Marcus did not 悪口を言う／悪態 her because he did not 表明する his inmost thoughts aloud.

He gave her his 議長，司会を務める and pulled another 今後.

"Does 行方不明になる Briggerland know?" asked Lydia.

"No," said Mr. Stepney pleasantly.

"May I tell her?"

"Of course."

"Mr. Stepney has been telling me about a wonderful racing クーデター to be made to-morrow. Isn't it rather thrilling, ジーンズ? He says it will be やめる possible for me to make five million フランs without any 危険 at all."

"Except the 危険 of a million, I suppose," smiled ジーンズ. "井戸／弁護士席, are you going to do it?" Lydia shook her 長，率いる.

"I 港／避難所't a million フランs in フラン, for one thing," she said, "and I wouldn't 危険 it if I had."

And ジーンズ smiled again at the discomfiture which Mr. Marcus Stepney strove manfully to hide.

Later she took his arm and led him into the garden.

"Marcus," she said when they were out of 範囲 of the house, "I think you are several 肉親，親類d of a fool."

"Why?" asked the other, who was not in the best humour.

"It was so 天然のまま," she said scornfully, "so cheap and 信用／信任- trickish. A 哀れな million フランs—twenty thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs. Apart from the fact that your 指名する would be mud in London if it were known that you had robbed a girl—"

"There's no question of 強盗," he said hotly, "I tell you Valdau is a certainty for the Prix."

"It would not be a certainty if her money were on," said ジーンズ dryly. "It would finish an artistic second and you would be 十分な of 陳謝s, and poor Lydia would be a million フランs to the bad. No, Marcus, that is cheap."

"I'm nearly broke," he said すぐに.

He made no disguise of his profession, nor of his nefarious 計画（する）.

Between the two there was a queer 肉親，親類d of camaraderie. Though he may not have been privy to the more tremendous of her 罪，犯罪s, yet he seemed to 受託する her as one of those who lived on the frontiers of illegality.

"I was thinking about you, as you sat there telling her the story," said ジーンズ thoughtfully. "Marcus, why don't you marry her?"

He stopped in his stride and looked 負かす／撃墜する at the girl.

"Marry her, ジーンズ; are you mad? She wouldn't marry me."

"Why not?" she asked. "Of course she'd marry you, you silly fool, if you went the 権利 way about it."

He was silent.

"She is 価値（がある） six hundred thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs, and I happen to know that she has nearly two hundred thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs in cash on deposit at the bank," said ジーンズ.

"Why do you want me to marry her?" he asked 意味ありげに. "Is there a rake-off for you?"

"A big rake-off," she said. "The two hundred thousand on deposit should be easily get-at-able, Marcus, and she'd even give you more—"

"Why?" he asked.

"To agree to a 分離," she said coolly. "I know you. No woman could live very long with you and 保存する her 推論する／理由."

He chuckled.

"And I'm to 手渡す it all over to you?"

"Oh no," she 訂正するd. "I'm not greedy. It is my experience that the greedy people get into bad trouble. The man or woman who 'wants it all' usually gets the dressing-事例／患者 the 'all' was kept in. No, I'd like to take a half."

He sat 負かす／撃墜する on a garden seat and she followed his example.

"What is there to be?" he asked. "An 協定 between you and me? Something 調印するd and 調印（する）d and 配達するd, eh?"

Her sad 注目する，もくろむs caught his and held them.

"I 信用 you, Marcus," she said softly. "If I help you in this —and I will if you will do all that I tell you to do—I will 信用 you to give me my 株."

Mr. Marcus Stepney fingered his collar a little importantly.

"I've never let a pal 負かす／撃墜する in my life," he said with a cough. "I'm as straight as they make 'em, to people who play the game with me."

"And you are wise, so far as I am 関心d," said the gentle ジーンズ. "For if you 二塁打-crossed me, I should 手渡す the police the 指名する and 演説（する）／住所 of your other wife who is still living."

His jaw dropped.

"Wha—what?" he stammered.

"Let us join the ladies," mocked ジーンズ, as she rose and put her arm in his.

It pleased her immensely to feel this big man trembling.

CHAPTER XXI

It seemed to Lydia that she had been abroad for years, though in reality she had been three days in Cap ツバメ, when Mr. Marcus Stepney became a 正規の／正選手 報知係.

Even the most objectionable people 改善する on 知識, and give the 嘘（をつく） to first impressions.

Mr. Stepney never bored her. He had an inexhaustible 蓄える／店 of anecdotes and reminiscences, 非，不，無 of which was in the slightest degree 不快な／攻撃. He was something of a sportsman, too, and he called by 協定 the next morning, after his introduction to the Cap ツバメ 世帯, and 行為／行うing her to a 避難所d cove, 含む／封じ込めるing two bathing huts, he introduced her to the exhilarating Mediterranean.

Sea bathing is not permitted in Monte Carlo until May, and the water was much colder than Lydia had 推定する／予想するd. They swam out to a floating 壇・綱領・公約 when Mr. Briggerland and ジーンズ put in an 外見. ジーンズ had come straight from the house in her bathing-gown, over which she wore a light 包む. Lydia watched her with amazement, for the girl was an 専門家 swimmer. She could dive from almost any 高さ and could remain under water an alarming time.

"I never thought you had so much energy and strength in your little 団体／死体," said Lydia, as ジーンズ, with a shriek of enjoyment, drew herself on the raft and wiped the water from her 注目する，もくろむs.

"There's a man up there looking at us through glasses," said Briggerland suddenly. "I saw the flash of the sun on them."

He pointed to the rising ground beyond the seashore, but they could see nothing.

Presently there was a glitter of light amongst the green, and Lydia pointed.

"I thought that sort of thing was never done except in comic newspapers," she said, but ジーンズ did not smile. Her 注目する，もくろむs were 焦点（を合わせる）d on the point where the unseen 観察者／傍聴者 lay or sat, and she shaded her 注目する，もくろむs.

"Some 訪問者 from Monte Carlo, I 推定する／予想する. People at Cap ツバメ are much too respectable to do anything so vulgar."

Mr. Briggerland, at a ちらりと見ること from his daughter, slipped into the water, and with strong 激しい 一打／打撃s, made his way to the shore.

"Father is going to 調査／捜査する," said ジーンズ, "and the water really is the warmest place," and with that she fell sideways into the blue sea like a 調印（する）, dived 負かす／撃墜する into its depths, and presently Lydia saw her walking along the white 床に打ち倒す of the ocean, her little 手渡すs keeping up an almost imperceptible 動議. Presently she 発射 up again, shook her 長，率いる and looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, only to dive again.

In the 合間, though Lydia, who was fascinated by the manoeuvre of the girl, did not notice the fact, Mr. Briggerland had reached the shore, pulled on a pair of rubber shoes, and with his mackintosh buttoned over his bathing dress, had begun to climb through the underbrush に向かって the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where the glasses had glistened. When Lydia looked up he had disappeared.

"Where is your father?" she asked the girl.

"He went into the bushes." Mr. Stepney volunteered the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）. "I suppose he's looking for the Paul 調査する."

Mr. Stepney had been 異常に glum and silent, for he was piqued by the tactless 外見 of the Briggerlands.

"Come into the water, Marcus," said ジーンズ peremptorily, as she put her foot against the 辛勝する／優位 of the raft, and 押し進めるd herself backward, "I want to see Mrs. Meredith dive."

"Me?" said Lydia in surprise. "Good heavens, no! After watching you I don't ーするつもりである making an 展示 of myself."

"I want to show you the proper way to dive," said ジーンズ. "Stand up on the 辛勝する／優位 of the raft."

Lydia obeyed.

"Straight up," said ジーンズ. "Now put both your 武器 out wide. Now—"

There was a sharp 割れ目 from the shore; something whistled past Lydia's 長，率いる, struck an upright 地位，任命する, 後援ing the 辛勝する／優位, and with a whine went ricochetting into the sea.

Lydia's 直面する went white.

"What—what was that?" she gasped. She had hardly spoken before there was another 発射. This time the 弾丸 must have gone very high, and すぐに afterwards （機の）カム a yell of 苦痛 from the shore.

ジーンズ did not wait. She struck out for the beach, swimming furiously. It was not the 発射, but the cry which had alarmed her, and without waiting to put on coat or sandals, she ran up the little road where her father had gone, に引き続いて the path through the undergrowth. Presently she （機の）カム to a grassy 陰謀（を企てる）, in the centre of which two tall pines grew 味方する by 味方する, and lying against one of the trees was the 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd 人物／姿／数字 of Briggerland. She turned him over. He was breathing ひどく and was unconscious. An ugly 負傷させる gaped at the 支援する of his 長，率いる, and his mackintosh and bathing dress were smothered with 血.

She looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する quickly for his 加害者, but there was nobody in sight, and nothing to 示す the presence of a third person but two 向こうずねing 厚かましさ／高級将校連 cartridges which lay on the grass.

CHAPTER XXII

Lydia Meredith only remembered swooning twice in her life, and both these occasions had happened within a few weeks.

She never felt やめる so unprepared to carry on as she did when, with an 成果／努力 she threw herself into the water at Marcus Stepney's 味方する and swam slowly toward the shore.

She dare not let her mind dwell upon the narrowness of her escape. Whoever had 解雇する／砲火／射撃d that 発射 had done so deliberately, and with the 意向 of 殺人，大当り her. She had felt the 勝利，勝つd of the 弾丸 in her 直面する.

"What do you suppose it was?" asked Marcus Stepney as he 補助装置d her up the beach. "Do you think it was 兵士s practising?"

She shook her 長，率いる.

"Oh," said Mr. Stepney thoughtfully, and then: "If you don't mind, I'll run up and see what has happened."

He wrapped himself in the dressing gown he had brought with him, and followed ジーンズ's 追跡する, coming up with her as Mr. Briggerland opened his 注目する，もくろむs and 星／主役にするd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

"Help me to 持つ／拘留する him, Marcus," said ジーンズ.

"Wait a moment," said Mr. Stepney, feeling in his pocket and producing a silk handkerchief, "包帯 him with that."

She shook her 長，率いる.

"He's lost all the 血 he's going to lose," she said 静かに, "and I don't think there's a fracture. I felt the skull very carefully with my finger."

Mr. Stepney shivered.

"Hullo," said Briggerland drowsily, "Gee, he gave me a whack!"

"Who did it?" asked the girl.

Mr. Briggerland shook his 長，率いる and winced with the 苦痛 of it.

"I don't know," he moaned. "Help me up. Stepney."

With the man's 援助 he rose unsteadily to his feet.

"What happened?" asked Stepney.

"Don't ask him any questions now," said the girl はっきりと. "Help him 支援する to the house."

A doctor was 召喚するd and stitched the 負傷させる. He gave an encouraging 報告（する）／憶測, and was not too inquisitive as to how the 傷害 had occurred. Foreign 訪問者s get 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の things in the 地域s of Monte Carlo, and 医療の men lose nothing by their discretion.

It was not until that afternoon, propped up with pillows in a 議長，司会を務める, the centre of a 同情的な audience, that Mr. Briggerland told his story.

"I had a feeling that something was wrong," he said, "and I went up to 調査／捜査する. I heard a 発射 解雇する／砲火／射撃d, almost within a few yards of me, and dashing through the bushes, I saw the fellow taking 目的（とする） for the second time, and 掴むd him. You remember the second 発射 went high."

"What sort of a man was he?" asked Stepney.

"He was an Italian, I should think," answered Mr. Briggerland. "At any 率, he caught me an awful whack with the 支援する of his ライフル銃／探して盗む, and I knew no more until ジーンズ 設立する me."

"Do you think he was 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing at me?" asked Lydia in horror.

"I am 確かな of it," said Briggerland. "I realised it the moment I saw the fellow."

"How am I to thank you?" said the girl impulsively. "Really, it was wonderful of you to 取り組む an 武装した man with your 明らかにする 手渡すs."

Mr. Briggerland の近くにd his 注目する，もくろむs and sighed.

"It was nothing," he said modestly.

Before dinner he and his daughter were left alone for the first time since the 事故.

"What happened?" she asked.

"It was going to be a little surprise for you," he said. "A little 計画／陰謀 of my own, my dear; you're always calling me a funk, and I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 証明する—"

"What happened?" she asked tersely.

"井戸／弁護士席, I went out yesterday morning and 直す／買収する，八百長をするd it all. I bought the ライフル銃／探して盗む, an old English ライフル銃／探して盗む, at Amiens from a 小作農民. I thought it might come in handy, 特に as the man threw in a packet of 弾薬／武器. Yesterday morning, lying awake before daybreak, I thought it out. I went up to the hill—the land belongs to an empty house, by the way —and I 位置を示すd the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, put the ライフル銃／探して盗む where I could find it easily, and 直す／買収する，八百長をするd a pair of glass goggles on to one of the bushes, where the sun would catch it. The whole 計画／陰謀 was not without its 長所 as a piece of 戦略, my dear," he said complacently.

"And then—?" she said.

"I thought we'd go bathing yesterday, but we didn't, but to-day —it was a long time before anybody spotted the glasses, but once I had the excuse for going 岸に and 調査／捜査するing, the 残り／休憩（する） was 平易な."

She nodded.

"So that was why you asked me to keep her on the raft, and make her stand up?"

He nodded.

"井戸／弁護士席—?" she 需要・要求するd.

"I went up to the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, got the ライフル銃／探して盗む and took 目的（とする）. I've always been a pretty good 発射—"

"You didn't advertise it to-day," she said sardonically. "Then I suppose somebody 攻撃する，衝突する you on the 長，率いる?"

He nodded and made a grimace, but any movement of his 負傷させるd cranium was 過度に painful.

"Who was it?" she asked.

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't ask fool questions," he said petulantly. "I know nothing. I didn't even feel the blow. I just remember taking 目的（とする）, and then everything went dark."

"And how would you have explained it all, supposing you had 後継するd?"

"That was 平易な," he said. "I should have said that I went in search of the man we had seen, I heard a 発射 and 急ぐd 今後 and 設立する nothing but the ライフル銃／探して盗む."

She was silent, pinching her lips absently.

"And you took the 危険 of some 小作農民 or 訪問者 seeing you—took the 危険 of bringing the police to the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す and turning what might have easily been a 事例／患者 of 偶発の death into an obvious 事例／患者 of wilful 殺人. I think you called yourself a strategist," she asked politely.

"I did my best," he growled.

"井戸／弁護士席, don't do it again, father," she said. "Your foolhardiness appals me, and heaven knows, I never 推定する／予想するd that I should be in a position to call you foolhardy."

And with this she left him to bask in the hero-worship which the approaching Mrs. Cole-Mortimer would lavish upon him.

The "事故" kept them at home that night, and Lydia was not sorry. A settee is not a very comfortable sleeping place, and she was ready for a real bed that night. Mr. Stepney 設立する her yawning surreptitiously, and went home 早期に in disgust.

The night was warmer than the morning had been. The Föhn 勝利，勝つd was blowing and she 設立する her room with its radiator a little oppressive. She opened the long French windows, and stepped out on to the balcony. The last ４半期/4分の1 of the moon was high in the sky, and though the light was faint, it gave 影をつくる／尾行するs to trees and an eerie 照明 to the lawn.

She leant her 武器 on the rail and looked across the sea to the lights of Monte Carlo glistening in the purple night. Her 注目する，もくろむs wandered idly to the grounds and she started. She could have sworn she had seen a 人物／姿／数字 moving in the 影をつくる／尾行する of the tree, nor was she mistaken.

Presently it left the tree belt, and stepped 慎重に across the lawn, 停止（させる）ing now and again to look around. She thought at first that it was Marcus Stepney who had returned, but something about the walk of the man seemed familiar. Presently he stopped 直接／まっすぐに under the balcony and looked up and she uttered an exclamation, as the faint light 明らかにする／漏らすd the アイロンをかける-grey hair and the grisly eyebrows of the 侵入者.

"All 権利, 行方不明になる," he said in a hoarse whisper, "it's only old Jaggs."

"What are you doing?" she answered in the same トン.

"Just lookin' 一連の会議、交渉／完成する," he said, "just lookin' 一連の会議、交渉／完成する," and limped again into the 不明瞭.

CHAPTER XXIII

So old Jaggs was in Monte Carlo! Whatever was he doing, and how was he getting on with these people who spoke nothing but French, she wondered! She had something to think about before she went to sleep.

She opened her 注目する，もくろむs singularly awake as the 夜明け was coming up over the grey sea. She looked at her watch; it was a ４半期/4分の1 to six. Why she had wakened so 完全に she could not tell, but remembered with a little shiver another occasion she had wakened, this time before the 夜明け, to 直面する death in a most terrifying 形態／調整.

She got up out of bed, put on a 激しい coat and opened the wire doors that led to the balcony. The morning was colder than she imagined, and she was glad to 退却／保養地 to the neighbourhood of the warm radiator.

The fresh clean hours of the 夜明け, when the mind is （疑いを）晴らす, and there is neither sound nor movement to distract the thoughts, are favourable to sane thinking.

Lydia reviewed the past few weeks in her life, and realised, for the first time, the 奇蹟 which had happened. It was like a legend of old —the slave had been 解除するd from the king's anteroom—the struggling artist was now a rich woman. She twiddled the gold （犯罪の）一味 on her 手渡す absent-mindedly—and she was married... and a 未亡人! She had an uncomfortable feeling that, in spite of her riches, she had not yet 設立する her niche. She was an 半端物 量, as yet. The Cole-Mortimers and the Briggerlands did not belong to her ideal world, and she could find no place where she fitted.

She tried, in this 明言する／公表する of mind so favourable to the consideration of such a problem, to analyse Jack Glover's antagonism toward ジーンズ Briggerland and her father.

It seemed unnatural that a healthy young man should 持続する so bitter a 反目，不和 with a girl whose beauty was almost of a transcendant 質 and all because she had 拒絶するd him.

Jack Glover was a public school boy, a man with a keen sense of honour. She could not imagine him 存在 有罪の of a mean 活動／戦闘. And such men did not 追求する vendettas without good 推論する／理由. If they were 拒絶するd by a woman, they 受託するd their congé with a good grace, and it was almost 考えられない that Jack should have no other 推論する／理由 for his 憎悪. Yet she could not bring herself even to consider the 可能性 that the 推論する／理由 was the one he had 前進するd. She （機の）カム again to the dead end of conjecture. She could believe in Jack's judgment up to a point —beyond that she could not go.

She had her bath, dressed, and was in the garden when the eastern horizon was golden with the light of the rising sun. Nobody was about, the most energetic of the servants had not yet risen, and she strolled through the avenue to the main road. As she stood there looking up and 負かす／撃墜する a man （機の）カム out from the trees that fringed the road and began walking 速く in the direction of Monte Carlo.

"Mr. Jaggs!" she called.

He took no notice, but seemed to 増加する his limping pace, and after a moment's hesitation, she went 飛行機で行くing 負かす／撃墜する the road after him. He turned at the sound of her footsteps and in his furtive way drew into the 影をつくる／尾行する of a bush. He looked more than usually grimy; on his 手渡すs were an 半端物 pair of gloves and a soft slouch hat that had seen better days, covered his 長，率いる.

"Good-morning, 行方不明になる," he wheezed.

"Why were you running away, Mr. Jaggs?" she asked, a little out of breath.

"Not runnin' away, 行方不明になる," he said, ちらりと見ることing at her はっきりと from under his 激しい white eyebrows. "Just havin' a look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する!"

"Do you spend all your nights looking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する?" she smiled at him.

"Yes, 行方不明になる."

At that moment a cyclist gendarme （機の）カム into 見解（をとる）. He slowed 負かす／撃墜する as he approached the two and dismounted.

"Good morning, madame," he said politely, and then looking at the man, "is this man in your 雇う? I have seen him coming out of your house every morning?"

"Oh, yes," said Lydia あわてて, "he's my—"

She was at a loss to 述べる him, but old Jaggs saved her the trouble.

"I'm madame's 特使," he said, and to Lydia's amazement he spoke in perfect French, "I am also the watchman of the house."

"Yes, yes," said Lydia, after she had 回復するd from her surprise. "M'sieur is the watchman, also."

"Bien, madame," said the gendarme. "許す my asking, but we have so many strangers here."

They watched the gendarme out of sight. Then old Jaggs chuckled.

"Pretty good French, 行方不明になる, wasn't it?" he said, and without another word, turned and limped in the 追跡する of the police.

She looked after him in bewilderment. So he spent every night in the grounds, or somewhere about the house? The knowledge gave her a queer sense of 慰安 and safety.

When she went 支援する to the 郊外住宅 she 設立する the servants were up. ジーンズ did not put in an 外見 until breakfast, and Lydia had an 適切な時期 of talking to the French housekeeper whom Mrs. Cole-Mortimer had engaged when she took the 郊外住宅. From her she learnt a bit of news, which she passed on to ジーンズ almost as soon as she put in an 外見.

"The gardener's little boy is going to get 井戸／弁護士席, ジーンズ."

ジーンズ nodded.

"I know," she said. "I telephoned to the hospital yesterday."

It was so unlike her conception of the girl, that Lydia 星／主役にするd.

"The mother is in 孤立／分離," Lydia went on, "and Madame Souviet says that the poor woman has no money and no friends. I thought of going 負かす／撃墜する to the hospital to-day to see if I could do anything for her."

"You'd better not, my dear," 警告するd Mrs. Cole-Mortimer nervously. "Let us be thankful we've got the little brat out of the neighbourhood without our catching the 病気. One doesn't want to 捜し出す trouble. Keep away from the hospital."

"Rubbish!" said ジーンズ briskly. "If Lydia wants to go, there is no 推論する／理由 why she shouldn't. The 孤立／分離 people are never 許すd to come into 接触する with 訪問者s, so there is really no danger."

"I agree with Mrs. Cole-Mortimer," 不平（をいう）d Briggerland. "It is very foolish to ask for trouble. You take my advice, my dear, and keep away."

"I had a talk with a gendarme this morning," said Lydia to change the 支配する. "When he stopped and got off his bicycle I thought he was going to speak about the 狙撃. I suppose it was 報告（する）／憶測d to the police?"

"Er—yes," said Mr. Briggerland, not looking up from his plate, "of course. Have you been into Monte Carlo?"

Lydia shook her 長，率いる.

"No, I couldn't sleep, and I was taking a walk along the road when he passed." She said nothing about Mr. Jaggs. "The police at Monaco are very sociable."

Mr. Briggerland 匂いをかぐd.

"Very," he said.

"Have they any theories?" she asked. In her innocence she was 固執するing in a 支配する which was wholly distasteful to Mr. Briggerland. "About the 狙撃 I mean?"

"Yes, they have theories, but my dear, I should advise you not to discuss the 事柄 with the police. The fact is," invented Mr. Briggerland, "I told them that you were unaware of the fact that you had been 発射 at, and if you discussed it with the police, you would make me look rather foolish."

When Lydia and Mrs. Cole-Mortimer had gone, ジーンズ 掴むd an 適切な時期 which the absence of the maid 申し込む／申し出d.

"I hope you are beginning to see how perfectly insane your 計画／陰謀 was," she said. "You have to support your 行為／法令／行動する with a whole 一連の bungling lies. かもしれない Marcus, like a fool, has について言及するd it in Monte Carlo, and we shall have the 探偵，刑事s out here asking why you have not 報告（する）／憶測d the 事柄."

"If I were as clever as you—" he growled.

"You're not," said ジーンズ, rolling her serviette. "You're the most un- clever man I know."

CHAPTER XXIV

Lydia went up to her bedroom to put away her 着せる／賦与するs and 設立する the maid making the bed.

"Oh, madame," said the girl, "I forgot to speak to you about a 事柄—I hope madame will not be angry."

"I'm hardly likely to be angry on a morning like this," said Lydia.

"It is because of this 事柄," said the girl. She groped in her pocket and brought out a small 向こうずねing 反対する, and Lydia took it from her 手渡す.

"This 事柄" was a tiny silver cross, so small that a five-フラン piece would have covered it easily. It was brightly polished and 明らかに had seen service.

"When we took your bed, after the atrocious and mysterious happening," said the maid 速く, "this was 設立する in the sheets. It was not thought that it could かもしれない be madame's, because it was so poor, until this morning when it was 示唆するd that it might be a souvenir that madame values."

"You 設立する it in the sheets?" asked Lydia in surprise.

"Yes, madame."

"It doesn't belong to me," said Lydia. "Perhaps it belongs to Madame Cole-Mortimer. I will show it to her."

Mrs. Cole-Mortimer was a devout カトリック教徒 and it might easily be some 心にいだくd keep-sake of hers.

The girl carried the cross to the window; an "X" had been scrawled by some sharp-pointed 器具 at the junction of the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s. There was no other 示す to identify the trinket.

She put the cross in her 捕らえる、獲得する, and when she saw Mrs. Cole-Mortimer again she forgot to ask her about it.

The car drove her into Nice alone. ジーンズ did not feel inclined to make the 旅行 and Lydia rather enjoyed the 孤独.

The 孤立／分離 hospital was at the 最高の，を越す of the hill and she 設立する some difficulty in 得るing admission at this hour. The arrival of the 長，指導者 医療の officer, however, saved her from making the 旅行 in vain. The 報告（する）／憶測 he gave about the child was very 満足な; the mother was in the 孤立／分離 区.

"Can she be seen?"

"Yes, madame," said the 都市の Frenchman in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金. "You understand, you will not be able to get 近づく her? It will be rather like interviewing a 囚人, for she will be behind one 始める，決める of 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s and you behind another."

Lydia was taken to a room which was, she imagined, very much like a room in which 囚人s interviewed their 苦しめるd relations. There were not 正確に／まさに 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s, but two large mesh 逮捕するs of steel separated the 訪問者 from the 患者 under 観察. After a time a 修道女 brought in the gardener's wife, a tall, gaunt woman, who was a native of Marseilles, and spoke the 混乱させるing patois of that city with 広大な／多数の／重要な rapidity. It was some time before Lydia could accustom her ear to the queer dialect.

Her boy was getting 井戸／弁護士席, she said, but she herself was in terrible trouble. She had no money for the extra food she 要求するd. Her husband who was away in Paris when the child had been taken, had not troubled to 令状 to her. It was terrible 存在 in a place amongst other fever 事例／患者s, and she was 確かな that her days were numbered...

Lydia 押し進めるd a five-hundred フラン 公式文書，認める through the grating to the 修道女, to settle her 構成要素 needs.

"And, oh, madame," wailed the gardener's wife, "my poor little boy has lost the gift of the Reverend Mother of San Surplice! His own cross which has been blessed by his holiness the ローマ法王! It is because I left his cross in his little shirt that he is getting better, but now it is lost and I am sure these thieving doctors have taken it."

"A cross?" said Lydia. "What sort of a cross?"

"It was a silver cross, madame; the value in money was nothing —it was priceless. Little Xavier—"

"Xavier?" repeated Lydia, remembering the "X" on the trinket that had been 設立する in her bed. "Wait a moment, madame." She opened her 捕らえる、獲得する and took out the tiny silver symbol, and at the sight of it the woman burst into a ボレー of joyful thanks.

"It is the same, the same, madame! It has a small 'X' which the Reverend Mother scratched with her own blessed scissors!"

Lydia 押し進めるd the cross through the 逮捕する and the 修道女 手渡すd it to the woman.

"It is the same, it is the same!" she cried. "Oh, thank you, madame! Now my heart is glad... "

Lydia （機の）カム out of the hospital and walked through the gardens by the doctor's 味方する. But she was not listening to what he was 説—her mind was fully 占領するd with the mystery of the silver cross.

It was little Xavier's... it had been tucked inside his bed when he lay, as his mother thought, dying... and it had been 設立する in her bed! Then little Xavier had been in her bed! Her foot was on the step of the car when it （機の）カム to her—the meaning of that drenched couch and the empty 瓶／封じ込める of peroxide. Xavier had been put there, and somebody who knew that the bed was 感染させるd had so soaked it with water that she could not sleep in it. But who? Old Jaggs!

She got into the car slowly, and went 支援する to Cap ツバメ along the Grande Corniche.

Who had put the child there? He could not have walked from the cottage; that was impossible.

She was half-way home when she noticed a 小包 lying on the 床に打ち倒す of the car, and she let 負かす／撃墜する the 前線 window and spoke to the chauffeur. It was not Mordon, but a man whom she had 雇うd with the car.

"It （機の）カム from the hospital, madame," he said. "The porter asked me if I （機の）カム from 郊外住宅 Casa. It was something sent to the hospital to be 殺菌するd. There was a 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of seven フランs for the service, madame, and this I paid."

She nodded.

She 選ぶd up the 小包—it was 演説（する）／住所d to "Mademoiselle ジーンズ Briggerland" and bore the label of the hospital.

Lydia sat 支援する in the car with her 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd, tired of turning over this problem, yet 決定するd to get to the 底（に届く） of the mystery.

ジーンズ was out when she got 支援する and she carried the 小包 to her own room. She was trying to keep out of her mind the very 可能性 that such a hideous 罪，犯罪 could have been conceived as that which all the 証拠 示すd had been 試みる／企てるd. Very resolutely she 辞退するd to believe that such a thing could have happened. There must be some explanation for the presence of the cross in her bed. かもしれない it had been 設立する after the wet sheets had been taken to the servants' part of the house.

She rang the bell, and the maid who had given her the trinket （機の）カム.

"Tell me," said Lydia, "where was this cross 設立する?"

"In your bed, mademoiselle."

"But where? Was it before the 着せる／賦与するing was 除去するd from this room or after?"

"It was before, madame," said the maid. "When the sheets were turned 支援する we 設立する it lying 正確に／まさに in the middle of the bed."

Lydia's heart sank.

"Thank you, that will do," she said. "I have 設立する the owner of the cross and have 回復するd it."

Should she tell ジーンズ? Her first impulse was to take the girl into her 信用／信任, and 明らかにする／漏らす the 明言する／公表する of her mind. Her second thought was to 捜し出す out old Jaggs, but where could he be 設立する? He evidently lived somewhere in Monte Carlo, but his 指名する was hardly likely to be in the 訪問者s' 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）. She was still 決めかねて when Marcus Stepney called to take her to lunch at the Café de Paris.

The whole thing was so amazingly improbable. It belonged to a world of unreality, but then, she told herself, she also was living in an unreal world, and had been so for weeks.

CHAPTER XXV

Mr. Stepney had become more bearable. A week ago she would have shrunk from taking 昼食 with him, but now such a prospect had no terrors. His 見解（をとる）s of things and people were more generous than she had 推定する／予想するd. She had 心配するd his 態度 would be a little 冷笑的な, but to her surprise he oozed loving-親切. Had she known Mr. Marcus Stepney 同様に as ジーンズ knew him, she would have realised that he adapted his mental 態度 to his audience. He was a man whose 在庫／株-in-貿易（する） was a knowledge of human nature, and the ability to please. He would no more have 試みる／企てるd to shock or 脅す her, than a first-class salesman would shock or annoy a possible 顧客.

He had goods to sell, and it was his 商売／仕事 to see that they 満足させるd the 買い手. In this 事例／患者 the goods were 代表するd by sixty-nine インチs of good-looking, 井戸／弁護士席-dressed man, and it was rather important that he should 現在の the best 直面する of the article to the purchaser. It was almost as important that the sale should be a quick one. Mr. Stepney lived from week to week. What might happen next year seldom 利益／興味d him, therefore his 法廷，裁判所ing must be 早い.

He told the story of his life at lunch, a story liable to move a tender-hearted woman to at least a 同情的な 利益／興味. The story of his life 変化させるd also with the audience. In this 事例／患者, it was designed for one whom he knew had had a hard struggle, whose father had been ひどく in 負債, and who had tasted some of the bitterness of 敗北・負かす. ジーンズ had given him a very 正確な story of the girl's career, and Mr. Marcus Stepney adapted it for his own 目的.

"Why, your life has almost run 平行の with 地雷," said Lydia.

"I hope it may continue," said Mr. Stepney not without a touch of sadness in his 発言する／表明する. "I am a very lonely man—I have no friends except the 知識s one can 選ぶ up at night clubs, and the places where the smart people go in the season, and there is an artificiality about society friends which rather depresses me."

"I feel that, too," said the 同情的な Lydia.

"If I could only settle 負かす／撃墜する!" he said, shaking his 長，率いる. "A little house in the country, a few horses, a few cows, a woman who understood me... "

A 誤った move this.

"And a few pet chickens to follow you about?" she laughed. "No, it doesn't sound やめる like you, Mr. Stepney."

He lowered his 注目する，もくろむs.

"I am sorry you think that," he said. "All the world thinks that I'm a gadabout, an idler, with no 利益／興味 in 存在, except the 楽しみ I can 抽出する."

"And a jolly good 存在, too," said Lydia briskly. She had （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd a 公式文書，認める of 感情 creeping into the conversation, and had 殺害された it with the most 効果的な 武器 in woman's armoury.

"And now tell me all about the 広大な／多数の／重要な Moorish Pretender who is staying at your hotel—I caught a glimpse of him on the promenade —and there was a lot about him in the paper."

Mr. Stepney sighed and 関係のある all that he knew of the redoubtable Muley Hafiz on the way to the rooms. Muley Hafiz was 存在 lionised in フラン just then, to the annoyance of the Spanish 当局, who had put a price on his 長，率いる.

Lydia showed much more 利益／興味 in the Moorish Pretender than she did in the pretender who walked by her 味方する.

He was not in the best of tempers when he brought her 支援する to the 郊外住宅 Casa, and ジーンズ, who entertained him whilst Lydia was changing, saw that his first 前進するs had not met with a very encouraging result.

"There will be no wedding bells, ジーンズ," he said.

"You take a rebuff very easily," said the girl, but he shook his 長，率いる.

"My dear ジーンズ, I know women 同様に as I know the 支援する of my 手渡す, and I tell you that there's nothing doing with this girl. I'm not a fool."

She looked at him 真面目に.

"No, you're not a fool," she said at last. "You're hardly likely to make a mistake about that sort of thing. I'm afraid you'll have to do something more romantic."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You'll have to run away with her; and like the knights of old carry off the lady of your choice."

"The knights of old didn't have to go before a 裁判官 and 陪審／陪審員団 and serve seven years at Dartmoor for their sins," he said unpleasantly.

She was sitting on a low 議長，司会を務める overlooking the sea, whittling a twig with a silver-扱うd knife she had taken from her 捕らえる、獲得する—a favourite 占領／職業 of hers in moments of cogitation.

"All the ladies of old didn't go to the police," she said. "Some of them were やめる happy with their powerful lords, 特に delicate- minded ladies who shrank from advertising their misfortune to the readers of the Sunday 圧力（をかける）. I think most women like to be 支持を得ようと努めるd in the 洞穴-man fashion, Marcus."

"Is that the 肉親，親類d of 治療 you'd like, ジーンズ?"

There was a new 公式文書，認める in his 発言する／表明する. Had she looked at him she would have seen a strange light in his 注目する，もくろむs.

"I'm 単に 前進するing a theory," she said, "a theory which has been supported throughout the ages."

"I'd let her go and her money, too," he said. He was speaking quickly, almost incoherently. "There's only one woman in the world for me, ジーンズ, and I've told you that before. I'd give my life and soul for her."

He bent over, and caught her arm in his big 手渡す.

"You believe in the 洞穴-man method, do you?" he breathed. "It is the 肉親，親類d of 治療 you'd like, eh, ジーンズ?"

She did not 試みる／企てる to 解放（する） her arm.

"Keep your 手渡す to yourself, Marcus, please," she said 静かに.

"You'd like it, wouldn't you, ジーンズ? My God, I'd sacrifice my soul for you, you little devil!"

"Be sensible," she said. It was not her words or her 会社／堅い トン that made him draw 支援する. Twice and deliberately she drew the 辛勝する／優位 of her little knife across the 支援する of his 手渡す, and he leapt away with a howl of 苦痛.

"You—you beast," he stammered, and she looked at him with her sly smile.

"There must have been 洞穴 women, too, Marcus," she said coolly, as she rose. "They had their methods—give me your handkerchief, I want to wipe this knife."

His 直面する was grey now. He was looking at her like a man bereft of his senses.

He did not move when she took his handkerchief from his pocket, wiped the knife, の近くにd and slipped it into her 捕らえる、獲得する, before she 取って代わるd the handkerchief tidily. And all the time he stood there with his 手渡す streaming with 血, incapable of movement. It was not until she had disappeared 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the corner of the house that he pulled out the handkerchief and wrapped it about his 手渡す.

"A devil," he whimpered, almost in 涙／ほころびs, "a devil!"

CHAPTER XXVI

ジーンズ Briggerland discovered a new arrival on her return to the house.

Jack Glover had come 突然に from London, so Lydia told her, and Jack himself met her with 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の geniality.

"You lucky people to be in this 楽園!" he said. "It is raining like the dickens in London, and 哀れな beyond description. And you're looking brown and beautiful, 行方不明になる Briggerland."

"The spirit of the warm south has got into your 血, Mr. Glover," she said sarcastically. "A course at the Riviera would make you almost human."

"And what would make you human?" asked Jack blandly.

"I hope you people aren't going to quarrel as soon as you 会合，会う," said Lydia.

ジーンズ was struck by the change in the girl. There was a colour in her cheeks, and a new and a more joyous 公式文書，認める in her 発言する／表明する, which was unmistakable to so keen a student as ジーンズ Briggerland.

"I never quarrel with Jack," she said. She assumed a proprietorial 空気／公表する toward Jack Glover, which unaccountably annoyed Lydia. "He invents the quarrels and carries them out himself. How long are you staying?"

"Two days," said Jack, "then I'm 予定 支援する in town."

"Have you brought your Mr. Jaggs with you?" asked ジーンズ innocently.

"Isn't he here?" asked Jack in surprise. "I sent him along a week ago."

"Here?" repeated ジーンズ slowly. "Oh, he's here, is he? Of course." She nodded. 確かな things were （疑いを）晴らす to her now; the unknown drencher of beds, the stranger who had appeared from nowhere and had left her father senseless, were no longer mysteries.

"Oh, ジーンズ," it was Lydia who spoke. "I'm awfully remiss, I didn't give you the 小包 I brought 支援する from the hospital."

"From the hospital?" said ジーンズ. "What 小包 was that?"

"Something you had sent to be sterilized. I'll get it."

She （機の）カム 支援する in a minute or two with the 小包 which she had 設立する in the car.

"Oh yes," said ジーンズ carelessly, "I remember. It is a rug that I lent to the gardener's wife when her little boy was taken ill."

She 手渡すd the packet to the maid.

"Take it to my room," she said.

She waited just long enough to find an excuse for leaving the party, and went upstairs. The 小包 was on her bed. She tore off the wrapping —inside, starched white and clean, was the dust coat she had worn the night she had carried Xavier from the cottage to Lydia's bed. The rubber cap was there, discoloured from the 影響s of the 消毒薬, and the gloves and the silk handkerchief, neatly washed and 圧力（をかける）d. She looked at them thoughtfully.

She put the articles away in a drawer, went 負かす／撃墜する the servants' stairs and through a 激しい open door into the cellar. Light was 認める by two 閉めだした windows, through one of which she had thrust her bundle that night, and she could see every corner of the cellar, which was empty —as she had 推定する／予想するd. The 着せる／賦与するing she had thrown 負かす／撃墜する had been gathered by some mysterious スパイ／執行官, who had 今後d it to the hospital in her 指名する.

She （機の）カム slowly up the stairs, fastened the open door behind her, and walked out into the garden to think.

"Jaggs!" she said aloud, and her 発言する／表明する was as soft as silk. "I think, Mr. Jaggs, you せねばならない be in heaven."

CHAPTER XXVII

"Who were the haughty individuals interviewing ジーンズ in the saloon?" asked Jack Glover, as Lydia's car panted and groaned on the stiff ascent to La Turbie.

Lydia was 関心d, and he had already 公式文書，認めるd her 真面目さ.

"Poor ジーンズ is rather worried," she said. "It appears that she had a love 事件／事情／状勢 with a man three or four years ago, and recently he has been 砲撃するing her with 脅すing letters."

"Poor soul," said Jack dryly, "but I should imagine she could have dealt with that 事柄 without calling in the police. I suppose they were 探偵，刑事s. Has she had a letter recently?"

"She had one this morning—地位，任命するd in Monte Carlo last night."

"By the way, ジーンズ went into Monte Carlo last night, didn't she?" asked Jack.

She looked at him reproachfully.

"We all went into Monte Carlo," she said 厳しく. "Now, please don't be horrid, Mr. Glover, you aren't 示唆するing that ジーンズ wrote this awful letter to herself, are you?"

"Was it an awful letter?" asked Jack.

"A terrible letter, 脅すing to kill her. Do you know that Mr. Briggerland thinks that the person who nearly killed me was really 狙撃 at ジーンズ."

"You don't say," said Jack politely. "I 港／避難所't heard about people 狙撃 at you—but it sounds rather alarming."

She told him the story, and he 申し込む／申し出d no comment.

"Go on with your thrilling story of ジーンズ's mortal enemy. Who is he?"

"She doesn't know his 指名する," said Lydia. "She met him in Egypt —an 年輩の man who 前向きに／確かに dogged her footsteps wherever she went, and made himself a nuisance."

"Doesn't know his 指名する, eh?" said Jack with a 匂いをかぐ. "井戸／弁護士席, that's convenient."

"I think you're almost spiteful," said Lydia hotly. "Poor girl, she was so 苦しめるd this morning; I have never seen her so upset."

"And are the police going to keep guard and follow her wherever she goes? And is that impossible person, Mr. Marcus Stepney, also in the vendetta? I saw him wandering about this morning like a 負傷させるd hero, with his arm in a sling."

"He 傷つける his 手渡す 集会 wild flowers for me on the—"

But Jack's 爆発 of laughter checked her, and she glared at him.

"I think you're boorish," she snapped 怒って. "I'm sorry I （機の）カム out with you."

"And I'm sorry I've been such a fool," apologised the penitent Jack, "but the 見通し of the immaculate Mr. Stepney 集会 wild flowers in a 最高の，を越す hat and a morning 控訴 certainly did 控訴，上告 to me as 存在 comical!"

"He doesn't wear a 最高の，を越す hat or a morning 控訴 in Monte Carlo," she said, furious at his banter. "Let us talk about somebody else than my friends."

"I 港／避難所't started to talk about your friends yet," he said. "And please don't try to tell your chauffeur to turn 一連の会議、交渉／完成する—the road is too 狭くする, and he'd have the car over the cliff before you knew where you were, if he were stupid enough to try. I'm sorry, 深く，強烈に sorry, Mrs. Meredith, but I think that ジーンズ was 権利 when she said that the southern 空気／公表する had got into my 血. I'm a little hysterical—yes, put it 負かす／撃墜する to that. It runs in the family," he babbled on. "I have an aunt who faints at the sight of strawberries, and an uncle who swoons whenever a cat walks into the room."

"I hope you don't visit him very much," she said coldly.

"Two points to you," said Jack, "but I must 警告する Jaggs, in 事例／患者 he is mistaken for the 年輩の Lothario. 明白に ジーンズ is 準備するing the way for an unpleasant end to poor old Jaggs."

"Why do you think these things about ジーンズ?" she asked, as they were running into La Turbie.

"Because I have a 犯罪の mind," he replied 敏速に. "I have the same type of mind as ジーンズ Briggerland's, wedded to a wholesome 尊敬（する）・点 for the 法律, and a healthy sense of 権利 and wrong. Some people couldn't be happy if they owned a cent that had been earned dishonestly; other people are happy so long as they have the money—so long as it is real money. I belong to the former 部類. ジーンズ—井戸／弁護士席, I don't know what would make ジーンズ happy."

"And what would make you happy—ジーンズ?" she asked.

He did not answer this question until they were sitting on the stoep of the 国家の, where a light 昼食 was を待つing them.

"ジーンズ?" he said, as though the question had just been asked. "No, I don't want ジーンズ. She is wonderful, really, Mrs. Meredith, wonderful! I find myself thinking about her at 半端物 moments, and the more I think the more I am amazed. Lucretia Borgia was a child in 武器 compared with ジーンズ —poor old Lucretia has been maligned, anyway. There was a woman in the sixteenth century rather like her, and another girl in the 早期に days of New England, who used to 公然と非難する witches for the 楽しみ of seeing them 燃やす, but I can't think of an exact 平行の, because ジーンズ gets no 楽しみ out of 傷つけるing people any more than you will get out of cutting that cantaloup. It has just got to be 削減（する）, and the fact that you are finally destroying the life of the melon doesn't worry you."

"Have cantaloups life?" She paused, knife in 手渡す, 注目する，もくろむing the fruit with a frown. "No, I don't think I want it. So ジーンズ is a murderess at heart?"

She asked the question in solemn mockery, but Jack was not smiling.

"Oh yes—in 意向, at any 率. I don't know whether she has ever killed anybody, but she has certainly planned 殺人s."

Lydia sighed and sat 支援する in her 議長，司会を務める 根気よく.

"Do you still 示唆する that she harbours designs against my young life?"

"I not only 示唆する it, but I 明言する／公表する 前向きに／確かに that there have been four 試みる／企てるs on your life in the past fortnight," he said calmly.

"Let us have this out," she said recklessly. "Number one?"

"The nearly-a-致命的な 事故 in Berkeley Street," said Jack.

"Will you explain by what 奇蹟 the car arrived at the psychological moment?" she asked.

"That's 平易な," he said with a smile. "Old man Briggerland lit his cigar standing on the steps of the house. That light was a brilliant one, Jaggs tells me. It was the signal for the car to come on. The next 試みる／企てる was made with the 援助 of a lunatic doctor who was helped to escape by Briggerland, and brought to your house by him. In some way he got 持つ／拘留する of a 重要な—probably ジーンズ manoeuvred it. Did she ever talk to you about 重要なs?"

"No," said the girl, "she—" She stopped suddenly, remembering that ジーンズ had discussed 重要なs with her.

"Are you sure she didn't?" asked Jack, watching her.

"I think she may have done," said the girl defiantly; "what was the third 試みる／企てる?"

"The third 試みる／企てる," said Jack slowly, "was to 感染させる your bed with a malignant fever."

"ジーンズ did it?" said the girl incredulously. "Oh no, that would be impossible."

"The child was in your bed. Jaggs saw it and threw two buckets of water over the bed, so that you should not sleep in it."

She was silent.

"And I suppose the next 試みる／企てる was the 狙撃?"

He nodded.

"Now do you believe?" he asked.

She shook her 長，率いる.

"No, I don't believe," she said 静かに. "I think you have worked up a very strong 事例／患者 against poor ジーンズ, and I am sure you think you're 正当化するd."

"You are やめる 権利 there," he said.

He 解除するd a pair of field glasses which he had put on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and 調査するd the road from the sea. "Mrs. Meredith, I want you to do something and tell ジーンズ Briggerland when you have done it."

"What is that?" she asked.

"I want you to make a will. I don't care where you leave your 所有物／資産／財産, so long as it is not to somebody you love."

She shivered.

"I don't like making wills. It's so gruesome."

"It will be more gruesome for you if you don't," he said 意味ありげに. "The Briggerlands are your 相続人s at 法律."

She looked at him quickly.

"So that is what you are 目的（とする）ing at? You think that all these 陰謀（を企てる）s are designed to put me out of the way so that they can enjoy my money?"

He nodded, and she looked at him wonderingly.

"If you weren't a hard-長，率いるd lawyer, I should think you were a writer of romantic fiction," she said. "But if it will please you I will make a will. I 港／避難所't the slightest idea who I could leave the money to. I've got rather a lot of money, 港／避難所't I?"

"You have 正確に／まさに &続けざまに猛撃する;160,000 in hard cash. I want to talk to you about that," said Jack. "It is lying at your 銀行業者s in your 経常収支. It 代表するs 所有物／資産／財産 which has been sold or was in 過程 of 存在 sold when you 相続するd the money, and anybody who can get your 署名 and can 満足させる the 銀行業者s that they are bona fide payees, can draw every cent you have of ready money. I might say in passing that we are 用意が出来ている for that contingency, and any large cheque will be referred to me or to my partner."

He raised his field glasses for a second time and looked 刻々と 負かす／撃墜する along the hill road up which they had come.

"Are you 推定する／予想するing anybody?" she asked.

"I'm 推定する／予想するing ジーンズ," he said grimly.

"But we left her—"

"The fact that we left her talking to the police doesn't mean that she will not be coming up here, to watch us. ジーンズ doesn't like me, you know, and she will be 脅すd to death of this tête-à- tête."

The conversation had been 逮捕（する）d by the arrival of the soup and now there was a その上の interruption whilst the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する was 存在 （疑いを）晴らすd. When the ma tre d'hôtel had gone the girl asked:

"What am I to do with the money? Reinvest it?"

"正確に／まさに," said Jack, "but the most important thing is to make your will."

He looked along the 砂漠d veranda. They were the only guests 現在の who had come 早期に. From the veranda two curtained doors led into the salon of the hotel and it struck him that one of these had not been ajar when he looked at it before, and it was the door opposite to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する where they were sitting.

He 公式文書，認めるd this idly without 大（公）使館員ing any 広大な／多数の／重要な importance to the fact.

"Suppose somebody were to 現在の a cheque to the bank in my 指名する?" she asked. "What would happen?"

"If it were for a large sum? The 経営者／支配人 would call us up and one of us would probably go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to your bank. It is only a 封鎖する from our office. If Rennett or I said it was all 権利 the cheque would be honoured. You may be sure that I should make very 激烈な 調査s as to the origin of the 署名."

And then she saw him 強化する and his 注目する，もくろむs go to the door. He waited a second, then rising noiselessly, crossed the 木造の 床に打ち倒す of the veranda quickly and 押し進めるd open the door, to find himself 直面する to 直面する with the smiling ジーンズ Briggerland.

CHAPTER XXVIII

"However did you get here?" asked Lydia in surprise.

"I went into Nice," said the girl carelessly. "The 探偵，刑事s were going there and I gave them a 解除する."

"I see," said Jack, "so you （機の）カム into Turbie by the 支援する road? I wondered why I hadn't seen your car."

"You 推定する／予想するd me, did you?" she smiled, as she sat 負かす／撃墜する at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and selected a peach from its cotton-wool bed. "I only arrived a second ago, in fact I was 開始 the door when you almost knocked my を回避する. What a violent man you are, Jack! I shall have to put you into my story."

Glover had 回復するd his self-所有／入手 by now.

"So you are 追加するing to your other 罪，犯罪s by turning 小説家, are you?" he said good-humouredly. "What is the 調書をとる／予約する, 行方不明になる Briggerland?"

"It is going to be called '嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd,'" she said coolly. "And it will be the Story of a 傷つける Soul."

"Oh, I see, a humorous story," said Jack, wilfully dense. "I didn't know you were going to 令状 a biography."

"But do tell me about this, it is very thrilling, ジーンズ," said Lydia, "and it is the first I've heard of it."

ジーンズ was skinning the peach and was smiling as at an amusing thought.

"I've been two years making up my mind to 令状 it," she said, "and I'm going to dedicate it to Jack. I started work on it three or four days ago. Look at my wrist!" She held out her beautiful 手渡す for the girl's 査察.

"It is a very pretty wrist," laughed Lydia, "but why did you want me to see it?"

"If you had a professional 注目する，もくろむ," said the girl, 再開するing her 占領／職業, "you would have noticed the swelling, the result of writers' cramp."

"The yarn about your 年輩の admirer せねばならない 供給する a good 一時期／支部," said Jack, "and isn't there a phrase 'A 一時期／支部 of 事故s' —thatせねばならない go in?"

She did not raise her 注目する，もくろむs.

"Don't discourage me," she said a little sadly. "I have to make money somehow."

How much had she heard? Jack was wondering all the time, and he groaned inwardly when he saw how little 影響 his 警告 had upon the girl he was 努力する／競うing to 保護する. Women are natural actresses, but Lydia was not 事実上の／代理 now. She was genuinely fond of ジーンズ and he could see that she had 受託するd his 警告s as the ravings of a 病気d imagination. He 確認するd this 見解（をとる） when after a morning of sight-seeing and the 探検 of the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where, two thousand years before, the Emperor Augustine had 築くd his lofty "トロフィー," they returned to the 郊外住宅. There are some omissions which are 示すd, and when Lydia 許すd him to 出発／死 without 圧力（をかける）ing him to stay to dinner he realised that he had lost the trick.

"When are you going 支援する to London?" she asked.

"To-morrow morning," said Jack. "I don't think I shall come here again before I go."

She did not reply すぐに. She was a little penitent at her 欠如（する） of 歓待, but Jack had annoyed her and the more 納得させるing he had become, the greater had been the irritation he had 原因（となる）d. One question he had to ask but he hesitated.

"About that will—" he began, but her look of weariness stopped him.

It was a very annoyed young man that drove 支援する to the Hôtel de Paris. He had hardly gone before Lydia regretted her brusqueness. She liked Jack Glover more than she was 用意が出来ている to 収容する／認める, and though he had only been in Cap ツバメ for two days she felt a little sense of desolation at his going. Very resolutely she 辞退するd even to consider his 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の 見解（をとる）s about ジーンズ. And yet—

ジーンズ left her alone and watched her strolling aimlessly about the garden, guessing the little 嵐／襲撃する which had developed in her breast. Lydia went to bed 早期に that night, another 重要な 調印する ジーンズ 公式文書，認めるd, and was not sorry, because she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to have her father to herself.

Mr. Briggerland listened moodily whilst ジーンズ 関係のある all that she had learnt, for she had been in the salon at the 国家の for a good ４半期/4分の1 of an hour before Jack had discovered her.

"I thought he would want her to make a will," she said, "and, of course, although she has 拒絶するd the idea now, it will grow on her. I think we have the best part of a week."

"I suppose you have everything 削減（する） and 乾燥した，日照りのd as usual," growled Mr. Briggerland. "What is your 計画（する）?"

"I have three," said ジーンズ thoughtfully, "and two are 特に 控訴，上告ing to me because they do not 伴う／関わる the 雇用 of any third person."

"Had you one which brought in somebody else?" asked Briggerland in surprise. "I thought a clever girl like you—"

"Don't waste your sarcasm on me," said ジーンズ 静かに. "The third person whom I considered was Marcus Stepney," and she told him the gist of her conversation with the gambler. Mr. Briggerland was not impressed.

"A どろぼう like Marcus will get out of 支払う／賃金ing," he said, "and if he can 立ち往生させる you long enough to get the money you may whistle for your 株. Besides, a fellow like that isn't really afraid of a 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of bigamy."

ジーンズ, curled up in a big arm-議長，司会を務める, looked up under her eyelashes at her father and laughed.

"I had no 意向 of letting Marcus marry Lydia," she said coolly, "but I had to dangle something in 前線 of his 注目する，もくろむs, because he may serve me in やめる another way."

"How did he get those two 削除するs on his 手渡す?" asked Mr. Briggerland suddenly.

"Ask him," she said. "Marcus is getting a little troublesome. I thought he had learnt his lesson and had realised that I am not built for matrimony, 特に for a hectic attachment to a man who 伸び（る）s his 暮らし by cheating at cards."

"Now, now, my dear," said her father.

"Please don't be shocked," she mocked him. "You know 同様に as I do how Marcus lives."

"The boy is very fond of you."

"The boy is between thirty and thirty-six," she said tersely. "And he's not the 肉親，親類d of boy that I am 特に fond of. He is useful and may be more useful yet."

She rose, stretched her 武器 and yawned.

"I'm going up to my room to work on my story. You are watching for Mr. Jaggs?"

"Work on what?" he said.

"The story I am 令状ing and which I think will create a sensation," she said calmly.

"What's this?" asked Briggerland suspiciously. "A story? I didn't know you were 令状ing that 肉親，親類d of Stuff."

"There are lots of important things that you know nothing about, parent," she said and left him a little dazed.

For once ジーンズ was not deceiving him. A 令状ing （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する had been put in her room and a 厚い pad of paper を待つd her attention. She got into her kimono and with a little sigh sat 負かす／撃墜する at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and began to 令状. It was half-past two when she gathered up the sheets and read them over with a smile which was half contempt. She was on the point of getting into bed when she remembered that her father was keeping watch below. She put on her slippers and went downstairs and tapped gently at the door of the darkened dining-room.

Almost すぐに it was opened.

"What did you want to tap for?" he 不平（をいう）d. "You gave me a start."

"I preferred （電話線からの）盗聴 to 存在 発射," she answered. "Have you heard anything or seen anybody?"

The French windows of the dining-room were open, her father was wearing his coat and on his arm she saw by the 反映するd starlight from outside he carried a 発射-gun.

"Nothing," he said. "The old man hasn't come to-night."

She nodded.

"Somehow I didn't think he would," she said.

"I don't see how I can shoot him without making a fuss."

"Don't be silly," said ジーンズ lightly. "Aren't the police 井戸／弁護士席 aware that an 年輩の gentleman has 脅すd my life, and would it be remarkable if seeing an 古代の man prowl about this house you 発射 him on sight?"

She bit her lips thoughtfully.

"Yes, I think you can go to bed," she said. "He will not be here to- night. To-morrow night, yes."

She went up to her room, said her 祈りs and went to bed and was asleep すぐに.

Lydia had forgotten about ジーンズ's story until she saw her 令状ing industriously at a small （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する which had been placed on the lawn. It was February, but the 勝利，勝つd and the sun were warm and Lydia thought she had never seen a more beautiful picture than the girl 現在のd sitting there in a garden spangled with gay flowers, 激しい with the scent of February roses, a dainty 人物／姿／数字 of a girl, almost ethereal in her loveliness.

"Am I interrupting you?"

"Not a bit," said ジーンズ, putting 負かす／撃墜する her pen and rubbing her wrist. "Isn't it annoying. I've got to やめる an exciting part, and my wrist is giving me hell."

She used the word so 自然に that Lydia forgot to be shocked.

"Can I do anything for you?"

ジーンズ shook her 長，率いる.

"I don't 正確に／まさに see what you can do," she said, "unless you could —but, no, I would not ask you to do that!"

"What is it?" asked Lydia.

ジーンズ puckered her brows in thought.

"I suppose you could do it," she said, "but I'd hate to ask you. You see, dear, I've got a 一時期／支部 to finish and it really せねばならない go off to London to-day. I am very keen on getting an opinion from a literary friend of 地雷—but, no, I won't ask you."

"What is it?" smiled Lydia. "I'm sure you're not going to ask the impossible."

"The thought occurred to me that perhaps you might 令状 as I dictated. It would only be two or three pages," said the girl apologetically. "I'm so 十分な of the story at this moment that it would be a shame if I 許すd the divine 解雇する／砲火／射撃 of inspiration—that's the 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語, isn't it—to go out."

"Of course I'll do it," said Lydia. "I can't 令状 shorthand, but that doesn't 事柄, does it?"

"No, longhand will be quick enough for me. My thoughts aren't so 急速な／放蕩な," said the girl.

"What is it all about?"

"It is about a girl," said ジーンズ, "who has stolen a lot of money—"

"How thrilling!" smiled Lydia.

"And she's got away to America. She is living a very 十分な and joyous life, but the thought of her sin is haunting her and she decides to disappear and let people think she has 溺死するd herself. She is really going into a convent. I've got to the point where she is 説 別れの（言葉，会） to her friend. Do you feel 有能な of 存在 harrowed?"

"I never felt fitter for the 職業 in my life," said Lydia, and sitting 負かす／撃墜する in the 議長，司会を務める the girl had vacated, she took up the pencil which the other had left.

ジーンズ strolled up and 負かす／撃墜する the lawn in an agony of mental composition and presently she （機の）カム 支援する and began slowly to dictate.

Word by word Lydia wrote 負かす／撃墜する the thrilling story of the girl's 悔恨, and presently （機の）カム to the moment when the ヘロイン was inditing a letter to her friend.

"Take a fresh page," said ジーンズ, as Lydia paused half-way 負かす／撃墜する one sheet. "I shall want to 令状 something in there myself when my 手渡す gets better. Now begin:

"MY DEAR FRIEND."

Lydia wrote 負かす／撃墜する the words and slowly the girl dictated.

"I do not know how I can 令状 you this letter. I ーするつもりであるd to tell you when I saw you the other day how 哀れな I was. Your 疑惑 傷つける me いっそう少なく than your ignorance of the one 決定的な event in my life which has now made living a 重荷（を負わせる）. My money has brought no joy to me. I have met a man I love, but with whom I know a union is impossible. We are 決定するd to die together—別れの（言葉，会）— "

"You said she was going away," interrupted Lydia.

"I know," ジーンズ nodded. "Only she wants to give the impression—"

"I see, I see," said Lydia. "Go on."

"許す me for the 行為／法令／行動する I am committing, which you may think is the 行為／法令／行動する of a coward, and try to think 同様に of me as you かもしれない can. Your friend—"

"I don't know whether to make her 調印する her 指名する or put her 初期のs," said ジーンズ, pursing her lips.

"What is her 指名する?"

"Laura ツバメ. Just put the 初期のs L.M."

"They're 地雷 also," smiled Lydia. "What else?"

"I don't think I'll do any more," said ジーンズ. "I'm not a good 独裁者, am I? Though you're a wonderful amanuensis."

She collected the papers tidily, put them in a little 大臣の地位 and tucked them under her arm.

"Let us 賭事 the afternoon away," said ジーンズ. "I want distraction."

"But your story? 港／避難所't you to send it off?"

"I'm going to 格闘する with it in secret, even if it breaks my wrist," said ジーンズ brightly.

She took the 大臣の地位 up to her room, locked the door and sorted over the pages. The page which held the 別れの（言葉，会） letter she put carefully aside. The 残りの人，物, 含むing all that part of the story she had written on the previous night, she made into a bundle, and when Lydia had gone off with Marcus Stepney to swim, she carried the paper to a remote corner of the grounds and burnt it sheet by sheet. Again she 診察するd the "letter," 倍のd it and locked it in a drawer.

Lydia, returning from her swim, was met by ジーンズ half-way up the hill.

"By the way, my dear, I wish you would give me Jack Glover's London 演説（する）／住所," she said as they went into the house. "令状 it here. Here is a pencil." She pulled out an envelope from a stationery rack and Lydia, in all innocence, wrote as she requested.

The envelope ジーンズ carried upstairs, put into it the letter 調印するd "L. M.," and 調印（する）d it 負かす／撃墜する. Lydia Meredith was nearer to death at that moment than she had been on the afternoon when Mordon the chauffeur brought his big Fiat on to the pavement of Berkeley Street.

CHAPTER XXIX

It was in the evening of the next day that Lydia received a wire from Jack Glover. It was 演説（する）／住所d from London and 発表するd his arrival.

"Doesn't it make you feel nice, Lydia," said ジーンズ, when she saw the 電報電信, "to have a man in London looking after your 利益／興味s—a sort of 後見人 angel—and another 後見人 angel prowling 一連の会議、交渉／完成する your demesne at Cap ツバメ?"

"You mean Jaggs? Have you seen him?"

"No, I have not seen him," said the girl softly. "I should rather like to see him. Do you know where he is staying at Monte Carlo?"

Lydia shook her 長，率いる.

"I hope I shall see him before I go," said ジーンズ. "He must be a very 利益／興味ing old gentleman."

It was Mr. Briggerland who first caught a glimpse of Lydia's watchman. Mr. Briggerland had spent the greater part of the day sleeping. He was 異常に wakeful at one o'clock in the morning, and sat on the veranda in a fur-lined overcoat, his gun lay across his 膝s. He had seen many mysterious 形態／調整s flitting across the lawn, only to discover on 調査 that they were no more than the 影をつくる／尾行するs which the moving tree-最高の，を越すs cast.

At two o'clock he saw a 形態／調整 現れる from the tree belt and move stealthily in the 影をつくる／尾行する of the bushes toward the house. He did not 解雇する／砲火／射撃 because there was a chance that it might have been one of the 探偵，刑事s who had 約束d to keep an 注目する，もくろむ upon the 郊外住宅 Casa in 見解（をとる） of the murderous 脅しs which ジーンズ had received.

Noiselessly he rose and stepped in his rubber shoes to the darker end of the stoep. It was old Jaggs. There was no mistaking him. A bent man who limped 慎重に across the lawn and was making for the 支援する of the house. Mr. Briggerland cocked his gun and took 目的（とする）...

Both girls heard the 発射, and Lydia, springing out of bed, ran on to the balcony.

"It's all 権利, Mrs. Meredith," said Briggerland's 発言する／表明する. "It was a 夜盗，押し込み強盗, I think."

"You 港／避難所't 傷つける him?" she cried, remembering old Jaggs's nocturnal habits.

"If I have, he's got away," said Briggerland. "He must have seen me and dropped."

ジーンズ flew downstairs in her dressing-gown and joined her father on the lawn.

"Did you get him?" she asked in a low 発言する／表明する.

"I could have sworn I 発射 him," said her father in the same トン, "but the old devil must have dropped."

He heard the quick catch of her breath and turned apprehensively.

"Now, don't make a fuss about it, ジーンズ, I couldn't help it."

"You couldn't help it!" she almost snarled. "You had him under your gun and you let him go. Do you think he'll ever come again, you fool?"

"Now look here, I'm not going to—" began Mr. Briggerland, but she snatched the gun from his 手渡す, looked 速く at the lock and ran across the lawn toward the trees.

Somebody was hiding. She sensed that and all her 神経s were 警報. Presently she saw a crouching 人物／姿／数字 and 解除するd the gun, but before she could 解雇する／砲火／射撃 it was ひったくるd from her 手渡す.

She opened her lips to cry out for help, but a 手渡す の近くにd over her mouth, and swung her 一連の会議、交渉／完成する so that her 支援する was toward her 加害者, and then in a flash his arm （機の）カム 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her neck, the flex of the 肘 against her throat.

"Say one of them 祈りs of yours," said a 発言する／表明する in her ear, and the arm 強化するd.

She struggled furiously, but the man held her as though she were a child.

"You're going to die," whispered the 発言する／表明する. "How do you like the sensation?"

The arm 強化するd on her neck. She was 窒息させるing, dying she thought, and her heart was filled with a wild, mad longing for life and a terror undreamt of. She could faintly hear her father's 発言する／表明する calling her and then consciousness 出発／死d.

When ジーンズ （機の）カム to herself she was in Lydia Meredith's 武器. She opened her 注目する，もくろむs and saw the pathetic 直面する of her father ぼんやり現れるing from the background. Her 手渡す went up to her throat.

"Hallo, people—how did I get here?" she asked as she struggled into a sitting position.

"I （機の）カム in search of you and 設立する you lying on the ground," quavered Mr. Briggerland.

"Did you see the man?" she asked.

"No. What happened to you, darling?"

"Nothing," she said with that composure which she could 命令（する）. "I must have fainted. It was rather ridiculous of me, wasn't it?" she smiled.

She got unsteadily to her feet and again she felt her throat. Lydia noticed the 活動／戦闘.

"Did he 傷つける you?" she asked anxiously. "It couldn't have been Jaggs."

"Oh no," smiled ジーンズ, "it couldn't have been Jaggs. I think I'll go to bed."

She did not 推定する／予想する to sleep. For the first time in her 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の life 恐れる had come to her, and she had shivered on the very 辛勝する／優位 of the abyss. She felt the shudder she could not repress and shook herself impatiently. Then she 消滅させるd the light and went to the window and looked out. Somewhere there in the 不明瞭 she knew her enemy was hidden, and again that sense of 逮捕 swept over her.

"I'm losing my 神経," she murmured.

It was 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の to Lydia Meredith that the girl showed no 調印する of her night's adventure when she （機の）カム in to breakfast on the に引き続いて morning. She looked 有望な. Her 注目する，もくろむs were （疑いを）晴らす and her delicate irony as pointed as though she had slept the clock 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

Lydia did not swim that day, and Mr. Stepney had his 旅行 out to Cap ツバメ in vain. Nor was she inclined to go 支援する with him to Monte Carlo to the Casino in the afternoon, and Mr. Stepney began to realise that he was wasting 価値のある time.

ジーンズ 設立する her scribbling in the garden and Lydia made no secret of the 仕事 she was 請け負うing.

"Making your will? What a grisly idea?" she said as she put 負かす／撃墜する the cup of tea she had carried out to the girl.

"Isn't it," said Lydia with a grimace. "It is the most worrying 商売／仕事, too, ジーンズ. There is nobody I want to leave money to except you and Mr. Glover."

"For heaven's sake don't leave me any or Jack will think I am conspiring to bring about your untimely end," said ジーンズ. "Why make a will at all?"

There was no need for her to ask that, but she was curious to discover what reply the girl would make, and to her surprise Lydia 盗品故買者d with the question.

"It is done in all the best circles," she said good-humouredly. "And, ジーンズ, I'm not 利益／興味d in a 選び出す／独身 public 会・原則! I don't know by 肩書を与える the 指名する of any home for dogs, and I shouldn't be at all anxious to leave my money to one even if I did."

"Then you'd better leave it to Jack Glover," said the girl, "or to the Lifeboat 会・原則."

Lydia threw 負かす／撃墜する her pencil in disgust.

"Fancy making one's will on a beautiful day like this, and giving 指示／教授／教育s as to where one should be buried. Brrr! ジーンズ," she asked suddenly, "was it Mr. Jaggs you saw in the 支持を得ようと努めるd?"

ジーンズ shook her 長，率いる.

"I saw nobody," she said. "I went in to look for the 夜盗，押し込み強盗; the excitement must have been too much for me, and I fainted."

But Lydia was not 満足させるd.

"I can't understand Mr. Jaggs myself," she said, but ジーンズ interrupted her with a cry.

Lydia looked up and saw her 注目する，もくろむs 向こうずねing and her lips parting in a smile.

"Of course," she said softly. "He used to sleep at your flat, didn't he?"

"Yes, why?" asked the girl in surprise.

"What a fool I am, what a perfect fool!" said ジーンズ, startled out of her accustomed self-所有／入手.

"I don't やめる know where your folly comes in, but perhaps you will tell me," but ジーンズ was laughing softly.

"Go on and make your will," she said mockingly. "And when you've finished we'll go into the rooms and chase the lucky numbers. Poor dear Mrs. Cole-Mortimer is feeling a little neglected, too, we せねばならない do something for her."

The day and night passed without any untoward event. In the evening ジーンズ had an interview with her French chauffeur, and afterwards disappeared into her room. Lydia （電話線からの）盗聴 at her door to 企て，努力，提案 her good night received no answer.

Day was breaking when old Jaggs （機の）カム out from the trees in his furtive way and ちらりと見ることing up and 負かす／撃墜する the road made his 停止（させる）ing way toward Monte Carlo. The only 反対するs in sight was a donkey laden with market produce led by a 明らかにする-legged boy who was going in the same direction as he.

A little more than a mile along the road he turned はっきりと to the 権利 and began climbing a 法外な and 狭くする bridle path which joined the mountain road, half-way up to La Turbie. The boy with the donkey turned off to the main road and continued the 法外な climb toward the Grande Corniche. There were many houses built on the 辛勝する／優位 of the road and 事実上 on the 辛勝する／優位 of precipices, for the windows 直面するing the sea often looked sheer 負かす／撃墜する for two hundred feet. At first these dwellings appeared in clusters, then as the road climbed higher, they occurred at rare intervals.

The boy 主要な the donkey kept his 注目する，もくろむ upon the valley below, and from time to time caught a glimpse of the old man who had now left the bridle path, and was 選ぶing his way up the rough hill-味方する. He was making for a dilapidated house which stood at one of the hairpin bends of the road, and the donkey-boy, shading his 注目する，もくろむs from the glare of the rising sun, saw him disappear into what must have been the cellar of the house, since the door through which he went was a good twenty feet beneath the level of the road. The donkey-boy continued his climb, tugging at his 重荷（を負わせる）d beast, and presently he （機の）カム up to the house. Smoke was rising from one of the chimneys, and he 停止（させる）d at the door, tied the rope he held to a rickety gate 地位，任命する, and knocked gently.

A 有望な-直面するd 小作農民 woman （機の）カム to the open door and shook her 長，率いる at the sight of the wares with which the donkey was laden.

"We want 非，不，無 of your トラックで運ぶ, my boy," she said. "I have my own garden. You are not a Monogasque."

"No, signora," replied the boy, flashing his teeth with a smile. "I am from San Remo, but I have come to live in Monte Carlo to sell vegetables for my uncle, and he told me I should find a 宿泊するing here."

She looked at him dubiously.

"I have one room which you could have, boy," she said, "though I do not like Italians. You must 支払う／賃金 me a フラン a night, and your donkey can go into the shed of my brother-in-法律 up the hill."

She led the way 負かす／撃墜する a flight of 古代の stairs and showed him a tiny room overlooking the valley.

"I have one other man who lives here," she said. "An old one, who sleeps all day and goes out all night. But he is a very respectable man," she 追加するd in defence of her （弁護士の）依頼人.

"Where does he sleep?" asked the boy.

"There!" The woman pointed to a room on the opposite 味方する of the 狭くする 上陸. "He has just come in, I can hear him." She listened.

"Will madame get me change for this?" The boy produced a fifty-フラン 公式文書，認める, and the woman's eyebrows rose.

"Such wealth!" she said good-naturedly. "I did not think that a little boy like you could have such money."

She bustled upstairs to her own room, leaving the boy alone. He waited until her 激しい footsteps sounded 総計費, and then gently he tried the door of the other lodger. Mr. Jaggs had not yet bolted the door, and the 秘かに調査する 押し進めるd it open and looked. What he saw 満足させるd him, for he pulled the door tight again, and as the footfall of old Jaggs （機の）カム nearer the door, the donkey-boy flew upstairs with 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の rapidity.

"I will come later, madame," he said, when he had received the change. "I must take my donkey into Monte Carlo."

She watched the boy and his beast go 負かす／撃墜する the road, and went 支援する to the 仕事 of 準備するing her lodger's breakfast.

To Monte Carlo the cabbage 販売人 did not go. Instead, he turned 支援する the way he had come, and a hundred yards from the gate of 郊外住宅 Casa, Mordon, the chauffeur, appeared, and took the rope from his 手渡す.

"Did you find what you 手配中の，お尋ね者, mademoiselle?" he asked.

ジーンズ nodded. She got into the house through the servants' 入り口 and up to her room without 観察. She pulled off the 黒人／ボイコット wig and 適用するd herself to 除去するing the stains from her 直面する. It had been a good morning's work.

"You must keep Mrs. Meredith fully 占領するd to-day." She waylaid her father on the stairs to give him these 指示／教授／教育s.

For her it was a busy morning. First she went to the Hôtel de Paris, and on the pretext of 令状ing a letter in the lounge, 安全な・保証するd two or three sheets of the hotel paper and an envelope. Next she 雇うd a typewriter and carried it with her 支援する to the house. She was working for an hour before she had the letter finished. The 署名 took her some time. She had to ransack Lydia's 令状ing 事例／患者 before she 設立する a letter from Jack Glover—Lydia's 署名 was 平易な in comparison.

This, and a cheque drawn from the 支援する of Lydia Meredith's cheque- 調書をとる／予約する, 完全にするd her 器具／備品.

That afternoon Mordon, the chauffeur, モーターd into Nice, and by nine o'clock that night an aeroplane deposited him in Paris. He was in London the に引き続いて morning, a 持参人払いの of an 緊急の letter to Mr. Rennett, the lawyer, which, however, he did not 現在の in person.

Mordon knew a French girl in London, and she it was who carried the letter to Charles Rennett—a letter that made him scratch his 長，率いる many times before he took a sheet of paper, and 演説（する）／住所ing the 経営者／支配人 of Lydia's bank, wrote:

"This cheque is in order. Please honour."

CHAPTER XXX

"Desperate 病気s," said ジーンズ Briggerland, "call for desperate 治療（薬）s."

Mr. Briggerland looked up from his 調書をとる／予約する.

"What was that tale you were telling Lydia this morning," he asked, "about Glover's 賭事ing? He was only here a day, wasn't he?"

"He was here long enough to lose a lot of money," said ジーンズ. "Of course he didn't 賭事, so he did not lose. It was just a little seed- （種を）蒔くing on my part—one never knows how useful the 権利 word may be in the 権利 season."

"Did you tell Lydia that he was losing ひどく?" he asked quickly.

"Am I a fool? Of course not! I 単に said that 青年 would be served, and if you have the 賭事ing instinct in you, why, it didn't 事柄 what position you held in society or what your 責任／義務s were, you must indulge your passion."

Mr. Briggerland 一打／打撃d his chin. There were times when ジーンズ's 計画／陰謀s got very far beyond him, and he hated the mental 演習 of catching up. The only thing he knew was that every 地位，任命する from London bore 緊急の 需要・要求するs for money, and that the 未来 held 可能性s which he did not care to 熟視する／熟考する. He was in the unfortunate position of having 非常に／多数の pensioners to support, men and women who had served him in さまざまな ways and whose 是認, but what was more important, whose 忠義, depended 大部分は upon the regularity of their 支払い（額）s.

"I shall 賭事 or do something desperate," he said with a frown. "Unless you can bring off a クーデター that will produce twenty thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs of ready money we are going to get into all 肉親，親類d of trouble, ジーンズ."

"Do you think I don't know that?" she asked contemptuously. "It is because of this 緊急の need of money that I have taken a step which I hate."

He listened in amazement whilst she told him what she had done to relieve her 圧力（をかける）ing needs.

"We are getting deeper and deeper into Mordon's 手渡すs," he said, shaking his 長，率いる. "That is what 脅すs me at times."

"You needn't worry about Mordon," she smiled. Her smile was a little hard. "Mordon and I are going to be married."

She was 診察するing the toe of her shoe attentively as she spoke, and Mr. Briggerland leapt to his feet.

"What!" he squeaked. "Marry a chauffeur? A fellow I 選ぶd out of the gutter? You're mad! The fellow is a rascal who has earned the guillotine time and time again."

"Who hasn't?" she asked, looking up.

"It is incredible! It's madness!" he said. "I had no idea—" he stopped for want of breath.

Mordon was becoming troublesome. She had known that better than her father.

"It was after the '事故' that didn't happen that he began to get a little tiresome," she said. "You say we are getting deeper and deeper into his 手渡すs? 井戸／弁護士席, he hinted as much, and I did not like it. When he began to get a little loving I 受託するd that way out as an 平易な 代案／選択肢 to a very unpleasant （危険などに）さらす. Whether he would have betrayed us I don't know; probably he would."

Mr. Briggerland's 直面する was dark.

"When is this 利益／興味ing event to take place?"

"My marriage? In two months, I think. When is 復活祭? That class of person always wants to be married at 復活祭. I asked him to keep our secret and not to について言及する it to you, and I should not have spoken now if you had not referred to the 義務 we were under."

"In two months?" Mr. Briggerland nodded. "Let me know when you want this to end, ジーンズ," he said.

"It will end almost すぐに. Please do not trouble," said ジーンズ, "and there is one other thing, father. If you see Mr. Jaggs in the garden to-night, I beg of you do not 試みる／企てる to shoot him. He is a very useful man."

Her father sank 支援する in his 議長，司会を務める.

"You're beyond me," he said, helplessly.

Mordon 占領するd two rooms above the garage, which was conveniently 据えるd for ジーンズ's 目的. He arrived late the next night, and a light in his window, which was 明白な from the girl's room, told her all she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know.

Mr. Mordon was a good-looking man by 確かな 基準s. His hair was dark and glossily 小衝突d. His normal pallor of countenance gave him the 利益／興味ing 外見 which men of his 肉親，親類d did not 大いに dislike, and he had a 人物／姿／数字 which was admired in a dozen servants' halls, and a manner which passed amongst housemaids for "gentlemanly," and amongst gentlemen as "superior." He heard the foot of the girl on the stairs, and opened the door.

"You have brought it?" she said, without a 予選 word.

She had thrown a dark cloak over her evening dress, and the man's 注目する，もくろむs feasted on her.

"Yes, I have brought it—ジーンズ," he said.

She put her finger to her lips.

"Be careful, François," she 警告を与えるd in a low 発言する／表明する.

Although the man spoke English 同様に as he spoke French, it was in the latter language that the conversation was carried on. He went to a 支配する which lay on the bed, opened it and took out five 厚い 一括s of thousand-フラン 公式文書，認めるs.

"There are a thousand in each, mademoiselle. Five million フランs. I changed part of the money in Paris, and part in London."

"The woman—there is no danger from her?"

"Oh no, mademoiselle," he smiled complacently. "She is not likely to betray me, and she does not know my 指名する or where I am living. She is a girl I met at a dance at the スイスの Waiters' Club," he explained. "She is not a good character. I think the French police wish to find her, but she is very clever."

"What did you tell her?" asked ジーンズ.

"That I was working a クーデター with Vaud and Montheron. These are two 悪名高い men in Paris whom she knew. I gave her five thousand フランs for her work."

"There was no trouble?"

"非，不，無 whatever, mademoiselle. I watched her, and saw she carried the letter to the bank. As soon as the money was changed I left Croydon by 空気／公表する for Paris, and （機の）カム on from Paris to Marseilles by aeroplane."

"You did 井戸／弁護士席, François," she said, and patted his 手渡す.

He would have 掴むd hers, but she drew 支援する.

"You have 約束d, François," she said with dignity, "and a French gentleman keeps his word."

François 屈服するd.

He was not a French gentleman, but he was anxious that this girl should think he was, and to that end had told her stories of his birth which had 明らかに impressed her.

"Now will you do something more for me?"

"I will do anything in the world, ジーンズ," he cried passionately, and again a 抑制するing 手渡す fell on his shoulder.

"Then sit 負かす／撃墜する and 令状; your French is so much better than 地雷."

"What shall I 令状?" he asked. She had never called upon him for proof of his scholarship, and he was childishly eager to 明らかにする／漏らす to the woman he loved attainments of which he had no knowledge.

"令状, 'Dear Mademoiselle'." He obeyed.

"'have returned from London, and have 自白するd to Madame Meredith that I have (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進むd her 指名する and have drawn &続けざまに猛撃する;100,000 from her bank—'"

"Why do I 令状 this, ジーンズ?" he asked in surprise.

"I will tell you one day—go on. François," she continued her 口述.

"'And now I have learnt that Madame Meredith loves me. There is only one end to this—that which you see—'"

"Do you ーするつもりである passing 疑惑 to somebody else?" he asked, evidently fogged, "but why should I say—?"

She stopped his mouth with her 手渡す.

"How wonderful you are, ジーンズ," he said, admiringly, as he blotted the paper and 手渡すd it to her. "So that if this 事柄 is traced to you—" She looked into his 注目する，もくろむs and smiled.

"There will be trouble for somebody," she said, softly, as she put the paper in her pocket.

Suddenly, before she could realise what was happening he had her in his 武器, his lips 圧力（をかける）d against hers.

"ジーンズ, ジーンズ!" he muttered. "You adorable woman!"

Gently she 圧力（をかける）d him 支援する and she was still smiling, though her 注目する，もくろむs were like granite.

"Gently, François," she said, "you must have patience!"

She slipped through the door and の近くにd it behind her, and even in her then 明言する／公表する of mind she did not 激突する it, nor did she hurry 負かす／撃墜する the stairs, but went out, taking her time, and was 支援する in the house without her absence having been noticed. Her 直面する, 反映するd in her long mirror, was serene in its repose, but within her a devil was alive, hungry for 破壊. No man had roused the love of ジーンズ Briggerland, but at least one had 後継するd in bringing to life a 消費するing hate which, for the time 存在, 吸収するd her.

From the moment she drew her wet handkerchief across her red lips and flung the dainty thing as though it were 汚染するd through the open window, François Mordon was a dead man.

CHAPTER XXXI

A letter from Jack Glover arrived the next morning. He had had an 平易な 旅行, was glad to have had the 適切な時期 of seeing Lydia, and hoped she would think over the will. Lydia was not thinking of wills, but of an excuse to get 支援する to London. Of a sudden the loveliness of Monte Carlo had 棺／かげりd upon her, and she had almost forgotten the circumstances which had made the change of scene and 気候 so welcome.

"Go 支援する to London, my dear?" said Mrs. Cole-Mortimer, shocked. "What a—a 無分別な notion! Why it is 氷点の in town and 霧がかかった and... and I really can't let you go 支援する!"

Mrs. Cole-Mortimer was agitated at the very thought. Her own good time on the Riviera depended upon Lydia staying. ジーンズ had made that point very （疑いを）晴らす. She, herself, she explained to her 不快d hostess, was ready to go 支援する at once, and the prolongation of Mrs. Cole-Mortimer's stay depended upon Lydia's 計画（する）s. A startling switch of 原因（となる） and 影響, for Mrs. Cole-Mortimer had understood that ジーンズ's will controlled the 計画（する）s of the party.

Lydia might have 主張するd, had she really known the 推論する／理由 for her sudden longing for the grimy metropolis. But she could not even 納得させる herself that the charms of Monte Carlo were 次第で変わる／派遣部隊 upon the presence there of a man who had 誘発するd her furious indignation and with whom she had spent most of the time quarrelling. She について言及するd her 不安 to ジーンズ, and ジーンズ as usual seemed to understand.

"The Riviera is rather like Turkish Delight—very 甘い, but unsatisfying," she said. "Stay another week and then if you feel that way we'll all go home together."

"This means breaking up your holiday," said Lydia in self- reproach.

"Not a bit," 否定するd the girl, "perhaps I shall feel as you do in a week's time."

A week! ジーンズ thought that much might happen in a week. In truth events began to move quickly from that night, but in a way she had not 心配するd.

Mr. Briggerland, who had been reading the newspaper through the conversation, looked up.

"They are making a 広大な／多数の／重要な fuss of this Moor in Nice," he said, "but if I remember rightly, Nice invariably has some weird lion to adore."

"Muley Hafiz," said Lydia. "Yes, I saw him the day I went to lunch with Mr. Stepney, a 罰金-looking man."

"I'm not 大いに 利益／興味d in natives," said ジーンズ carelessly. "What is he, a negro?"

"Oh, no, he's fairer than—" Lydia was about to say "your father," but thought it 控えめの to find another comparison. "He's fairer than most of the people in the south of フラン," she said, "but then all very 高度に-bred Moors are, aren't they?"

ジーンズ shook her 長，率いる.

"Ethnology means nothing to me," she said humorously. "I've got my idea of Moors from Shakespeare, and I thought they were mostly 黒人／ボイコット. What is he then? I 港／避難所't read the papers."

"He is the Pretender to the Moorish 王位," said Lydia, "and there has been a lot of trouble in the French 上院 about him. フラン supports his （人命などを）奪う，主張するs, and the Spaniards have 申し込む／申し出d a reward for his 団体／死体, dead or alive, and that has brought about a 緊張するd 関係 between Spain and フラン."

ジーンズ regarded her with an amused smile.

"Fancy taking an 利益／興味 in international politics. I suppose that is 予定 to your working on a newspaper, Lydia."

ジーンズ discovered that she was to take a greater 利益／興味 in Muley Hafiz than she could have thought was possible. She had to go into Monte Carlo to do some shopping. Mentone was nearer, but she preferred the 運動 into the principality.

The Rooms had no 広大な／多数の／重要な call for her, and whilst Mordon went to a garage to have a 欠陥のある cylinder 診察するd, she strolled on to the terrace of the Casino, 負かす／撃墜する the 幅の広い steps に向かって the sea. The bathing huts were の近くにd at this season, but the little road 負かす／撃墜する to the beach is secluded and had been a favourite walk of hers in earlier visits.

近づく the huts she passed a group of dark-looking men in long white jellabs, and wondered which of these was the famous Muley. One she noticed with a 特に negro type of 直面する, wore on his flowing 式服 the scarlet 略章 of the Legion of Honour. Somehow or other he did not seem 利益／興味ing enough to be Muley, she thought as she went on to a （土地などの）細長い一片 of beach.

A man was standing on the sea shore, a tall, 命令（する）ing man, gazing out it seemed across the sunlit ocean as though he were in search of something. He could not have heard her footfall because she was walking on the sand, and yet he must have realised her presence, for he turned, and she almost stopped at the sight of his 直面する. He might have been a European; his complexion was fair, though his eyebrows and 注目する，もくろむs were jet 黒人／ボイコット, as also was the tiny 耐えるd and moustache he wore. Beneath the 従来の jellab he wore a dark green jacket, and she had a glimpse of glittering decorations before he pulled over his cloak so that they were hidden. But it was his 注目する，もくろむs which held her. They were large and as 黒人／ボイコット as night, and they were 始める，決める in a 直面する of such strength and dignity that ジーンズ knew instinctively that she was looking upon the Moorish Pretender.

They stood for a second 星／主役にするing at one another, and then the Moor stepped aside.

"容赦," he said in French, "I am afraid I startled you."

ジーンズ was breathing a little quicker. She could not remember in her life any man who had created so 即座の and favourable an impression. She forgot her contempt for native people, forgot his race, his 宗教 (and 宗教 was a big thing to ジーンズ), forgot everything except that behind those 注目する，もくろむs she recognised something which was 肉親，親類 to her.

"You are English, of course," he said in that language.

"Scottish," smiled ジーンズ.

"It is almost the same, isn't it?" He spoke without any trace of an accent, without an error of grammar, and his 発言する／表明する was the 発言する／表明する of a college man.

He had left the way open for her to pass on, but she ぐずぐず残るd.

"You are Muley Hafiz, aren't you?" she asked, and he turned his 長，率いる. "I've read a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 about you," she 追加するd, though in truth she had read nothing.

He laughed, showing two 列／漕ぐ／騒動s of perfect white teeth. It was only by contrast with their whiteness that she noticed the golden brown of his complexion.

"I am of international 利益／興味," he said lightly and ちらりと見ることd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する toward his attendants.

She thought he was going and would have moved on, but he stopped her.

"You are the first English speaking person I have talked to since I've been in フラン," he said, "except the American 外交官／大使." He smiled as at a pleasant recollection.

"You talk almost like an Englishman yourself."

"I was at Oxford," he said. "My brother was at Harvard. My father, the brother of the late 暴君, was a very 進歩／革新的な man and believed in the Western education for his children. Won't you sit 負かす／撃墜する?" he asked, pointing to the sand.

She hesitated a second, and then sank to the ground, and crossing his 脚s he sat by her 味方する.

"I was in フラン for four years," he carried on, evidently anxious to 持つ／拘留する her in conversation, "so I speak both languages 公正に／かなり 井戸／弁護士席. Do you speak Arabic?" He asked the question solemnly, but his 注目する，もくろむs were 有望な with laughter.

"Not very 井戸／弁護士席," she answered 厳粛に. "Are you staying very long?" It was a 従来の question and she was unprepared for the reply.

"I leave to-night," he said, "though very few people know it. You have surprised a 明言する／公表する secret," he smiled again.

And then he began to talk of Morocco and its history, and with 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の 緩和する he traced the story of the families which had 支配するd that troubled 明言する／公表する.

He touched lightly on his own 株 in the 反乱 which had almost brought about a European war.

"My uncle 掴むd the 王位, you know," he said, taking up a handful of sand and 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするing it up in the 空気／公表する. "He 敗北・負かすd my father and killed him, and then we caught his two sons."

"What happened to them?" asked ジーンズ curiously.

"Oh, we killed them," he said carelessly. "I had them hanged in 前線 of my テント. You're shocked?"

She shook her 長，率いる.

"Do you believe in 殺人，大当り your enemies?"

She nodded.

"Why not? It is the only 論理（学）の thing to do."

"My brother joined 軍隊s with the 現在の 暴君, and if I ever catch him I shall hang him too," he smiled.

"And if he catches you?" she asked.

"Why, he'll hang me," he laughed. "That is the 支配する of the game."

"How strange!" she said, half to herself.

"Do you think so? I suppose from the European 見地—"

"No, no," she stopped him. "I wasn't thinking of that. You are 論理（学）の and you do the 論理（学）の thing. That is how I would 扱う／治療する my enemies."

"If you had any," he 示唆するd.

She nodded.

"If I had any," she repeated with a hard little smile. "Will you tell me this—do I call you Mr. Muley or Lord Muley?"

"You may call me Wazeer, if you're so hard up for a 肩書を与える," he said, and the little idiom sounded queer from him.

"井戸／弁護士席, Wazeer, will you tell me: Suppose somebody who had something that you 手配中の，お尋ね者 very 不正に and they wouldn't give it to you, and you had the 力／強力にする to destroy them, what would you do?"

"I should certainly destroy them," said Muley Hafiz. "It is unnecessary to ask. 'The ありふれた 支配する, the simple 計画（する）'" he 引用するd.

Her 注目する，もくろむs were 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on his 直面する, and she was frowning, though this she did not know.

"I am glad I met you this afternoon," she said. "It must be wonderful living in that atmosphere, the atmosphere of might and 力／強力にする, where men and women aren't 治める／統治するd by the finicking 支配するs which vitiate the Western world."

He laughed.

"Then you are tired of your Western civilisation," he said as he rose and helped her to her feet (his 手渡すs were long and delicate, and she grew breathless at the touch of them). "You must come along to my little city in the hills where the 法律 is the sword of Muley Hafiz."

She looked at him for a moment.

"I almost wish I could," she said and held out her 手渡す.

He took it in the European fashion and 屈服するd over it. She seemed so tiny a thing by the 味方する of him, her 長，率いる did not reach his shoulder.

"Good-bye," she said hurriedly and turning, walked 支援する the way she had come, and he stood watching her until she was out of sight.

CHAPTER XXXII

"ジーンズ!"

She looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to 会合，会う the scowling gaze of Marcus Stepney.

"I must say you're the 限界," he said violently. "There are lots of things I imagine you'd do, but to stand there in 幅の広い daylight talking to a nigger—"

"If I stand in 幅の広い daylight and talk to a card-詐欺師, Marcus, I think I'm just low enough to do almost anything."

"A damned Moorish nigger," he spluttered, and her 注目する，もくろむs 狭くするd.

"Walk up the road with me, and if you かもしれない can, keep your 発言する／表明する 負かす／撃墜する to the level which gentlemen usually 雇う when talking to women," she said.

She was in better 条件 than he, and he was a little out of breath by the time they reached the Café de Paris, which was （人が）群がるd at that hour with the afternoon tea people.

He 設立する a 静かな corner, and by this time his 怒り／怒る, and a little of his courage, had evaporated.

"I've only your 利益／興味 at heart, ジーンズ," he said almost pleadingly, "but you don't want people in our 始める，決める to know you've been hobnobbing with this infernal Moor."

"When you say 'our 始める，決める,' to which 始める，決める are you referring?" she asked unpleasantly. "Because if it is the 始める，決める I believe you mean, they can't think too 不正に of me for my liking. It would be a degradation to me to be admired by your 始める，決める, Marcus."

"Oh, come now," he began feebly.

"I thought I had made it （疑いを）晴らす to you and I hoped you would carry the 示すs to your dying day"—there was malice in her 発言する／表明する, and he winced—"that I do not 許す you to 支配する my life or to censor my 活動／戦闘s. The 'nigger' you referred to was more of a gentleman than you can ever be, Marcus, because he has 産む／飼育する, which the Lord didn't give to you."

The waiter brought the tea at that moment, and the conversation passed to unimportant topics till he had gone.

"I'm rather 動揺させるd," he apologised. "I lost six thousand louis last night."

"Then you have six thousand 推論する／理由s why you should keep on good 条件 with me," said ジーンズ smiling cheerfully.

"That 洞穴 man stuff?" he asked, and shook his 長，率いる. "She'd raise Cain."

ジーンズ was laughing inside herself, but she did not show her merriment.

"You can but try," she said. "I've already told you how it can be done."

"I'll try to-morrow," he said after a thought. "By heavens, I'll try to-morrow!"

It was on the tip of her tongue to say "Not to-morrow," but she checked herself.

Mordon （機の）カム 一連の会議、交渉／完成する with the car to 選ぶ her up soon after. Mordon! Her little chin jerked up with a gesture of annoyance, which she seldom permitted herself. And yet she felt 異常に 元気づけるd. Her 会合 with the Moor was a milestone in her life from which memory she could draw both 激励 and 慰安.

"You met Muley?" said Lydia. "How thrilling! What is he like, ジーンズ? Was he a blackamoor?"

"No, he wasn't a blackamoor," said the girl 静かに. "He was an 異常に intelligent man."

"H'm," grunted her father. "How did you come to 会合，会う him, my dear?"

"I 選ぶd him up on the beach," said ジーンズ coolly, "as any flapper would 選ぶ up any nut."

Mr. Briggerland choked.

"I hate to hear you talking like that, ジーンズ. Who introduced him?"

"I told you," she said complacently. "I introduced myself. I talked to him on the beach and he talked to me, and we sat 負かす／撃墜する and played with the sand and discussed one another's lives."

"But how 企業ing of you, ジーンズ," said the admiring Lydia.

Mr. Briggerland was going to say something, but thought better of it.

There was a concert at the theatre that night and the whole party went. They had a box, and the interval had come before Lydia saw somebody 勧めるd into a box on the other 味方する of the house with such 証拠 of deference that she would have known who he was even if she had not seen the scarlet fez and the white 式服.

"It is your Muley," she whispered.

ジーンズ looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

Muley Hafiz was looking across at her; his 注目する，もくろむs すぐに sought the girl's, and he 屈服するd わずかに.

"What the devil is he 屈服するing at?" 不平（をいう）d Mr. Briggerland. "You didn't take any notice of him, did you, ジーンズ?"

"I 屈服するd to him," said his daughter, not troubling to look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. "Don't be silly, father; anyway, if he weren't nice, it would be やめる the 権利 thing to do. I'm the most distinguished woman in the house because I know Muley Hafiz, and he has 屈服するd to me! Don't you realise the social value of a lion's 承認?"

Lydia could not see him distinctly. She had an impression of a white 直面する, two large 黒人／ボイコット spaces where his 注目する，もくろむs were and a 黒人／ボイコット 耐えるd. He sat all the time in the 影をつくる／尾行する of a curtain.

ジーンズ looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to see if Marcus Stepney was 現在の, hoping that he had 証言，証人／目撃するd the 交流 of 儀礼s, but Marcus at that moment was watching little bundles of twelve thousand フラン 公式文書，認めるs raked across to the croupier's end of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する—which is the 商売／仕事 end of Monte Carlo.

ジーンズ was the last to leave the car when it 始める，決める them 負かす／撃墜する at the 郊外住宅 Casa. Mordon called her respectfully.

"Excuse me, mademoiselle," he said, "I wish you would come to the garage and see the new tyres that have arrived. I don't like them."

It was a code which she had agreed he should use when he 手配中の，お尋ね者 her.

"Very good, Mordon, I will come to the garage later," she said carelessly.

"What does Mordon want you for?" asked her father, with a frown.

"You heard him. He doesn't 認可する of some new tyres that have been bought for the car," she said coolly. "And don't ask me questions. I've got a 頭痛 and I'm dying for a cup of chocolate."

"If that fellow gives you any trouble he'll be sorry," said Briggerland. "And let me tell you this, ジーンズ, that marriage idea of yours—"

She only looked at him, but he knew the look and wilted.

"I don't want to 干渉する with your 私的な 事件／事情／状勢s," he mumbled, "but the very thought of it gets me crazy."

The garage was a brick building 築くd by the 味方する of the carriage 運動, built much nearer the house than is usually the 事例／患者.

ジーンズ waited a reasonable time before she slipped away. Mordon was waiting for her before the open doors of the garage. The place was in 不明瞭; she did not see him standing in the 入り口 until she was within a few paces of the man.

"Come up to my room," he said briskly.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I want to speak to you and this is not the place."

"This is the only place where I am 用意が出来ている to speak to you at the moment, François," she said reproachfully. "Don't you realise that my father is within 審理，公聴会, and at any moment Madame Meredith may come out? How would I explain my presence in your room?"

He did not answer for the moment, then:

"ジーンズ, I am worried," he said, in a troubled 発言する／表明する. "I cannot understand your 計画（する）s—they are too clever for me, and I have known men and women of 広大な／多数の／重要な attainment. The 広大な／多数の／重要な Bersac—"

"The 広大な／多数の／重要な Bersac is dead," she said coldly. "He was a man of such 広大な／多数の／重要な attainments that he （機の）カム to the knife. Besides, it is not necessary that you should understand my 計画（する）s, François."

She knew やめる 井戸／弁護士席 what was troubling him, but she waited.

"I cannot understand the letter which I wrote for you," said Mordon. "The letter in which I say Madame Meredith loved me. I have thought this 事柄 out, ジーンズ, and it seems to me that I am 妥協d."

She laughed softly.

"Poor François," she said mockingly. "With whom could you be 妥協d but with your 未来 wife? If I 願望（する） you to 令状 that letter, what else 事柄s?"

Again he was silent.

"I cannot speak here," he said almost 概略で. "You must come to my room."

She hesitated. There was something in his 発言する／表明する she did not like.

"Very 井戸／弁護士席," she said, and followed him up the 法外な stairs.

CHAPTER XXXIII

"Now explain." His words were a 命令（する）, his トン peremptory.

ジーンズ, who knew men, and read them without error, realised that this was not a moment to temporise.

"I will explain to you, François, but I do not like the way you speak," she said. "It is not you I wish to 妥協, but Madame Meredith."

"In this letter I wrote for you I said I was going away. I 自白するd to you that I had (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進むd a cheque for five million フランs. That is a very serious 文書, mademoiselle, to be in the 所有／入手 of anybody but myself." He looked at her straight in the 注目する，もくろむs and she met his gaze unflinchingly.

"The thing will be made very （疑いを）晴らす to you to-morrow, François," she said softly, "and really there is no 推論する／理由 to worry. I wish to end this unhappy 明言する／公表する of 事件／事情／状勢s."

"With me?" he asked quickly.

"No, with Madame Meredith," she answered. "I, too, am tired of waiting for marriage and I ーするつもりである asking my father's 許可 for the wedding to take place next week. Indeed, François," she lowered her 注目する，もくろむs modestly, "I have already written to the British 領事 at Nice, asking him to arrange for the 儀式 to be 成し遂げるd."

The sallow 直面する of the chauffeur 紅潮／摘発するd a dull red.

"Do you mean that?" he said 熱望して. "ジーンズ, you are not deceiving me?"

She shook her 長，率いる.

"No, François," she said in that low plaintive 発言する／表明する of hers, "I could not deceive you in a 事柄 so important to myself."

He stood watching her, his breast heaving, his 燃やすing 注目する，もくろむs devouring her, then:

"You will give me 支援する that letter I wrote, ジーンズ?" he said.

"I will give it to you to-morrow."

"To-night," he said, and took both her 手渡すs in his. "I am sure I am 権利. It is too dangerous a letter to be in 存在, ジーンズ, dangerous for you and for me—you will let me have it to-night?"

She hesitated.

"It is in my room," she said, an unnecessary 声明, and, in the circumstances, a dangerous one, for his 注目する，もくろむs dropped to the 捕らえる、獲得する that hung at her wrist.

"It is there," he said. "ジーンズ darling, do as I ask," he pleaded. "You know, every time I think of that letter I go 冷淡な. I was a madman when I wrote it."

"I have not got it here," she said 刻々と. She tried to draw 支援する, but she was too late. He gripped her wrists and pulled the 捕らえる、獲得する 概略で from her 手渡す.

"許す me, but I know I am 権利," he began, and then like a fury she flew at him, wrenched the 捕らえる、獲得する from his 手渡す, and by the very 暴力／激しさ of her attack, flung him backward.

He 星／主役にするd at her, and the colour faded from his 直面する leaving it a dead white.

"What is this you are trying to do?" he glowered at her.

"I will see you in the morning, François," she said and turned.

Before she could reach the 長，率いる of the stairs his arm was 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her and he had dragged her 支援する.

"My friend," he said between his teeth, "there is something in this 事柄 which is bad for me."

"Let me go," she breathed and struck at his 直面する.

For a 十分な minute they struggled, and then the door opened and Mr. Briggerland （機の）カム in, and at the sight of his livid 直面する, Mordon 解放（する）d his 持つ／拘留する.

"You swine!" hissed the big man. His 握りこぶし 発射 out and Mordon went 負かす／撃墜する with a 衝突，墜落 to the ground. For a moment he was stunned, and then with a snarl he turned over on his 味方する and whipped a revolver from his hip pocket. Before he could 解雇する／砲火／射撃, the girl had gripped the ピストル and wrenched it from his 手渡す.

"Get up," said Briggerland 厳しく. "Now explain to me, my friend, what you mean by this disgraceful attack upon mademoiselle."

The man rose and dusted himself mechanically and there was that in his 直面する which boded no good to Mr. Briggerland.

Before he could speak ジーンズ 介入するd.

"Father," she said 静かに, "you have no 権利 to strike François."

"François," spluttered Briggerland, his dark 直面する purple with 激怒（する）.

"François," she repeated calmly. "It is 権利 that you should know that François and I will be married next week."

Mr. Briggerland's jaw dropped.

"What?" he almost shrieked.

She nodded.

"We are going to be married next week," she said, "and the little scene you 証言，証人／目撃するd has nothing whatever to do with you."

The 影響 of these words on Mordon was magical. The malignant frown which had distorted his 直面する （疑いを）晴らすd away. He looked from ジーンズ to Briggerland as though it were impossible to believe the 証拠 of his ears.

"François and I love one another," ジーンズ went on in her even 発言する／表明する. "We have quarrelled to-night on a 事柄 which has nothing to do with anybody save ourselves."

"You're—going—to—marry—him—next—week ?" said Mr. Briggerland dully. "By God, you'll do nothing of the sort!"

She raised her 手渡す.

"It is too late for you to 干渉する, father," she said 静かに. "François and I shall go our way and 直面する our own 運命／宿命. I'm sorry you disapprove, because you have always been a very loving father to me."

That was the first hint Mr. Briggerland had received that there might be some other explanation for her words, and he became calmer.

"Very 井戸／弁護士席," he said, "I can only tell you that I 堅固に disapprove of the 活動／戦闘 you have taken and that I shall do nothing whatever to その上の your 無謀な 計画／陰謀. But I must 主張する upon your coming 支援する to the house now. I cannot have my daughter talked about."

She nodded.

"I will see you to-morrow morning 早期に, François," she said. "Perhaps you will 運動 me into Nice before breakfast. I have some 購入（する）s to make."

He 屈服するd, and reached out his 手渡す for the revolver which she had taken from him.

She looked at the ornate 武器, its silver-plated metal parts, the graceful ivory 扱う.

"I'm not going to 信用 you with this to-night," she said with her rare smile. "Good night, François."

He took her 手渡す and kissed it.

"Good night, ジーンズ," he said in a tremulous 発言する／表明する. For a moment their 注目する，もくろむs met, and then she turned as though she dared not 信用 herself and followed her father 負かす／撃墜する the stairs.

They were half-way to the house when she laid her 手渡す on Briggerland's arm.

"Keep this," she said. It was François' revolver. "It is probably 負担d and I thought I saw some silver 初期のs inlaid in the ivory 扱う. If I know François Mordon, they are his."

"What do you want me to do with it?" he said as he slipped the 武器 in his pocket.

She laughed.

"On your way to bed, come in to my room," she said. "I've やめる a lot to tell you," and she sailed into the 製図／抽選-room to interrupt Mrs. Cole-Mortimer, who was teaching a 疲れた／うんざりした Lydia the elements of bezique.

"Where have you been, ジーンズ?" asked Lydia, putting 負かす／撃墜する her cards.

"I have been arranging a novel experience for you, but I'm not so sure that it will be as 利益／興味ing as it might—it all depends upon the 明言する／公表する of your young heart," said ジーンズ, pulling up a 議長，司会を務める.

"My young heart is very healthy," laughed Lydia. "What is the 利益／興味ing experience?"

"Are you in love?" challenged ジーンズ, searching in a big chintz 捕らえる、獲得する where she kept her handiwork for a piece of unfinished sewing. (ジーンズ's domesticity was always a source of wonder to Lydia.)

"In love—good heavens, no."

"So much the better," nodded ジーンズ, "that sounds as though the experience will be fascinating."

She waited until she had threaded the 罰金 needle before she explained.

"If you really are not in love and you sit on the Lovers' 議長，司会を務める, the 指名する of your 未来 husband will come to you. If you're in love, of course, that 複雑にするs 事柄s a little."

"But suppose I don't want to know the 指名する of my 未来 husband?"

"Then you're 残忍な," said ジーンズ.

"Where is this magical 議長，司会を務める?"

"It is on the San Remo road beyond the frontier 駅／配置する. You've been there, 港／避難所't you, Margaret?"

"Once," said Mrs. Cole-Mortimer, who had not been east of Cap ツバメ, but whose 支配する it was never to 収容する／認める that she had 行方不明になるd anything 価値（がある） seeing.

"In a wild, eerie 位置／汚点／見つけ出す," ジーンズ went on, "and miles from any human habitation."

"Are you going to take me?"

ジーンズ shook her 長，率いる.

"That would 廃虚 the （一定の）期間," she said solemnly. "No, my dear, if you want that thrill, and, 本気で, it is 価値（がある） while, because the scenery is the most beautiful of any along the coast, you must go alone."

Lydia nodded.

"I'll try it. Is it too far to walk?" she asked.

"Much too far," said ジーンズ. "Mordon will 運動 you out. He knows the road very 井戸／弁護士席 and you ought not to take anybody but an experienced driver. I have a permis for the car to pass the frontier; you will probably 会合，会う father in San Remo—he is taking a モーター-cycle trip, aren't you, daddy?"

Mr. Briggerland drew a long breath and nodded. He was beginning to understand.

CHAPTER XXXIV

There was lying in Monaco harbour a long white boat with a stumpy mast, which delighted in the 指名する of ジャングル Queen. It was the 所有物／資産／財産 of an impecunious English nobleman who made a respectable income from letting the 大型船 on 雇う.

Mrs. Cole-Mortimer had seemed surprised at the reasonable 料金 需要・要求するd for two months' use until she had seen the boat the day after her arrival at Cap ツバメ.

She had pictured a large and commodious ヨット; she 設立する a reasonably sized モーター-開始する，打ち上げる with a 鯨-deck cabin. The description in the スパイ／執行官's 目録 that the ジャングル Queen would "sleep four" was probably based on the experience of a party of young roisterers who had once 雇うd the 大型船. Supposing that the "four" were reasonably drunk or ひどく drugged, it was possible for them to sleep on board the ジャングル Queen. 普通は two persons would have 設立する it difficult, though by lying diagonally across the "cabin" one small-sized man could have slumbered without 不快.

The ジャングル Queen had been a 失望 to ジーンズ also. Her busy brain had conceived an excellent way of solving her 主要な／長／主犯 problem, but a ちらりと見ること at the ジャングル Queen told her that the money she had spent on 雇うing the 開始する，打ち上げる—and it was little better —was wasted. She herself hated the sea and had so little 約束 in the 公共事業（料金）／有用性 of the boat, that she had even 解任するd the 青年 who …に出席するd to its 井戸／弁護士席-worn engines.

Mr. Marcus Stepney, who was mildly 利益／興味d in モーター-boating, and かなり 利益／興味d in any form of amusement which he could get at somebody else's expense, had so far been the 単独の patron of the ジャングル Queen. It was his practice to take the boat out every morning for a two hours' sail, 一般に alone, though いつかs he would take somebody whose 知識 he had made, and who was 運命にあるd to be a source of 利益（をあげる） to him in the 未来.

ジーンズ's talk of the 洞穴-man method of 支持を得ようと努めるing had made a big impression upon him, 強調d as it had been, and still was, by the two angry red scars across the 支援する of his 手渡す. Things were not going 井戸／弁護士席 with him; the 供給（する） of rich and 信用ing 青年s had suddenly 乾燥した，日照りのd up. The little games in his 私的な sitting-room had dwindled to feeble 割合s. He was still able to eke out a living, but his success at his 私的な séances had been 反対する-balanced by 激しい losses at the public （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs.

It is a known fact that people who live outside the 法律 keep to their own 計画（する）. The 詐欺師 very rarely commits 行為／法令／行動するs of 暴力／激しさ. The 夜盗，押し込み強盗 who practises card-sharping as a 味方する-line, is 事実上 unknown.

Mr. Stepney lived on a plausible tongue and a pair of 高度に dexterous 手渡すs. It had never occurred to him to go beyond his own sphere, and indeed 暴力／激しさ was as repugnant to him as it was vulgar.

Yet the 洞穴-man suggestion 控訴，上告d to him. He had a way with women of a 確かな 肉親，親類d, and if his 信用／信任 had been rather shaken by ジーンズ's savagery and Lydia's 無関心／冷淡, he had not altogether abandoned the hope that both girls in their turn might be 征服する／打ち勝つd by the 採択 of the 権利 method.

The method for 取引，協定ing with ジーンズ he had at the 支援する of his mind.

As for Lydia—ジーンズ's suggestion was very attractive. It was after a very ひどく 無益な night spent at the Nice Casino, that he took his courage in both 手渡すs and drove to the 郊外住宅 Casa.

He was an 早期に arrival, but Lydia had already finished her petite déjeuner and she was painfully surprised to see him.

"I'm not swimming to-day, Mr. Stepney," she said, "and you don't look as if you were either."

He was dressed in perfectly fitting white duck trousers, white shoes, and a blue 航海の coat with 厚かましさ／高級将校連 buttons; a ヨット操縦者's cap was 始める，決める at an angle on his dark 長，率いる.

"No, I'm going out to do a little fishing," he said, "and I was wondering whether, in your charity, you would …を伴って me."

She shook her 長，率いる.

"I'm sorry—I have another 約束／交戦 this morning," she said.

"Can't you break it?" he pleaded, "as an especial favour to me? I've made all 準備s and I've got a lovely lunch on board—you said you would come fishing with me one day."

"I'd like to," she 自白するd, "but I really have something very important to do this morning."

She did not tell him that her important 義務 was to sit on the Lovers' 議長，司会を務める. Somehow her trip seemed just a little silly in the 冷淡な （疑いを）晴らす light of morning.

"I could have you 支援する in time," he begged. "Do come along, Mrs. Meredith! You're going to spoil my day."

"I'm sure Lydia wouldn't be so unkind."

ジーンズ had made her 外見 as they were speaking.

"What is the 計画／陰謀, Lydia?"

"Mr. Stepney wants me to go out in the ヨット," said the girl, and ジーンズ smiled.

"I'm glad you call it a 'ヨット,'" she said dryly. "You're the second person who has so 述べるd it. The first was the スパイ／執行官. Take her to- morrow, Marcus."

There was a glint of amusement in her 注目する，もくろむs, and he felt that she knew what was at the 支援する of his mind.

"All 権利," he said in a トン which 示唆するd that it was anything but all 権利, and 追加するd, "I saw you 飛行機で行くing through Nice this morning with that yellow-直面するd chauffeur of yours, ジーンズ."

"Were you up so 早期に?" she asked carelessly.

"I wasn't dressed, I was looking out of the window—my room 直面するs the Promenade d'Anglaise. I don't like that fellow."

"I shouldn't let him know," said ジーンズ coolly. "He is very 極度の慎重さを要する. There are so many fellows that you dislike, too."

"I don't think you せねばならない 許す him so much freedom," Marcus Stepney went on. He was not in an amiable でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる of mind, and the knowledge that he was annoying the girl encouraged him. "If you give these French chauffeurs an インチ they'll take a kilometre."

"I suppose they would," said ジーンズ thoughtfully. "How is your poor 手渡す, Marcus?"

He growled something under his breath and thrust his 手渡す 深い into the pocket of his reefer coat.

"It is やめる 井戸／弁護士席," he snapped, and went 支援する to Monaco and his 独房監禁 boat trip, 炎上ing.

"One of these days... " he muttered, as he tuned up the モーター. He did not finish his 宣告，判決, but sent the nose of the ジャングル Queen at 十分な 速度(を上げる） for the open sea.

ジーンズ's talk with Mordon that morning had not been wholly 満足な. She had 静めるd his 疑惑s to an extent, but he still harped upon the letter, and she had 約束d to give it to him that evening.

"My dear," she said, "you are too impulsive—too Gallic. I had a terrible scene with father last night. He wants me to break off the 約束／交戦; told me what my friends in London would say, and how I should be a social outcast."

"And you—you, ジーンズ?" he asked.

"I told him that such things did not trouble me," she said, and her lips drooped sadly. "I know I cannot be happy with anybody but you, François, and I am willing to 直面する the sneers of London, even the 憎悪 and 軽蔑（する） of my father, for your sake."

He would have 掴むd her 手渡す, though they were in the open road, but she drew away from him.

"Be careful, François," she 警告するd him.

"Remember that you have a very little time to wait."

"I cannot believe my good fortune," he babbled, as he brought the car up the gentle incline into Monte Carlo. He dodged an 早期に morning tram, 行方不明の an unsuspecting 乗客, who had come 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 支援する of the tram-car, by インチs, and 始める，決める the big Italia up the palm avenue into the town.

"It is incredible, and yet I always thought some 広大な／多数の／重要な thing would happen to me, and, ジーンズ, I have 危険d so much for you. I would have killed Madame in London if she had not been dragged out of the way by that old man, and did I not watch for you when the man Meredith—"

"Hush," she said in a low 発言する／表明する. "Let us talk about something else."

"Shall I see your father? I am sorry for what I did last night," he said when they were 近づくing the 郊外住宅.

"Father has taken his モーター-bicycle and gone for a trip into Italy," she said. "No, I do not think I should speak to him, even if he were here. He may come 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in time, François. You can understand that it is terribly 苦しめるing; he hoped I would make a 広大な／多数の／重要な marriage. You must 許す for father's 失望."

He nodded. He did not 運動 her to the house, but stopped outside the garage.

"Remember, at half-past ten you will take Madame Meredith to the Lovers' 議長，司会を務める—you know the place?"

"I know it very 井戸／弁護士席," he said. "It is a difficult place to turn —I must take her almost into San Remo. Why does she want to go to the Lovers' 議長，司会を務める? I thought only the cheap people went there—"

"You must not tell her that," she said はっきりと. "Besides, I myself have been there."

"And who did you think of, ジーンズ?" he asked suddenly.

She lowered her 注目する，もくろむs.

"I will not tell you—now," she said, and ran into the house.

François stood gazing after her until she had disappeared, and then, like a man waking from a trance, he turned to the mundane 商売／仕事 of filling his 戦車／タンク.

CHAPTER XXXV

Lydia was dressing for her 旅行 when Mrs. Cole-Mortimer （機の）カム into the saloon where ジーンズ was 令状ing.

"There's a telephone call from Monte Carlo," she said. "Somebody wants to speak to Lydia."

ジーンズ jumped up.

"I'll answer it," she said.

The 発言する／表明する at the other end of the wire was 厳しい and unfamiliar to her.

"I want to speak to Mrs. Meredith."

"Who is it?" asked ジーンズ.

"It is a friend of hers," said the 発言する／表明する. "Will you tell her? The 商売／仕事 is rather 緊急の."

"I'm sorry," said ジーンズ, "but she's just gone out."

She heard an exclamation of annoyance.

"Do you know where she's gone?" asked the 発言する／表明する.

"I think she's gone in to Monte Carlo," said ジーンズ.

"If I 行方不明になる her will you tell her not to go out again until I come to the house?"

"Certainly," said ジーンズ politely, and hung up the telephone.

"Was that a call for me?"

It was Lydia's 発言する／表明する from the 長，率いる of the stairs.

"Yes, dear. I think it was Marcus Stepney who 手配中の，お尋ね者 to speak to you. I told him you'd gone out," said ジーンズ. "You didn't wish to speak to him?"

"Good heavens, no!" said Lydia. "You're sure you won't come with me?"

"I'd rather stay here," said ジーンズ truthfully.

The car was at the door, and Mordon, looking 異常に spruce in his white dust coat, stood by the open door.

"How long shall I be away?" asked Lydia.

"About two hours, dear, you'll be very hungry when you come 支援する," said ジーンズ, kissing her. "Now, mind you think of the 権利 man," she 警告するd her in mockery.

"I wonder if I shall," said Lydia 静かに.

ジーンズ watched the car out of sight, then went 支援する to the saloon. She was hardly seated before the telephone rang again, and she 心配するd Mrs. Cole-Mortimer, and answered it.

"Mrs. Meredith has not gone in to Monte Carlo," said the 発言する／表明する. "Her car has not been seen on the road."

"Is that Mr. Jaggs?" asked ジーンズ sweetly.

"Yes, 行方不明になる," was the reply.

"Mrs. Meredith has come 支援する now. I'm dreadfully sorry, I thought she had gone into Monte Carlo. She's in her room with a bad 頭痛. Will you come and see her?"

There was an interval of silence.

"Yes, I will come," said Jaggs.

Twenty minutes later a taxicab 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する the old man at the door, and a maid 認める him and brought him into the saloon.

ジーンズ rose to 会合，会う him. She looked at the 屈服するd 人物／姿／数字 of old Jaggs. Took him all in, from his アイロンをかける-grey hair to his dusty shoes, and then she pointed to a 議長，司会を務める.

"Sit 負かす／撃墜する," she said, and old Jaggs obeyed. "You've something very important to tell Mrs. Meredith, I suppose."

"I'll tell her that myself, 行方不明になる," said the old man gruffly.

"井戸／弁護士席, before you tell her anything, I want to make a 自白," she smiled 負かす／撃墜する on old Jaggs, and pulled up a 議長，司会を務める so that she 直面するd him.

He was sitting with his 支援する to the light, 持つ／拘留するing his 乱打するd hat on his 膝s.

"I've really brought you up under 誤った pretences," she said, "because Mrs. Meredith isn't here at all."

"Not here?" he said, half rising.

"No, she's gone for a ride with our chauffeur. But I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see you, Mr. Jaggs, because—" she paused. "I realise that you're a dear friend of hers and have her best 利益／興味s at heart. I don't know who you are," she said, shaking her 長，率いる, "but I know, of course, that Mr. John Glover has 雇うd you."

"What's all this about?" he asked gruffly. "What have you to tell me?"

"I don't know how to begin," she said, biting her lips. "It is such a delicate 事柄 that I hate talking about it at all. But the 態度 of Mrs. Meredith to our chauffeur Mordon, is 苦しめるing, and I think Mr. Glover should be told."

He did not speak and she went on.

"These things do happen, I know," she said, "but I am happy to say that nothing of that sort has come into my experience, and, of course, Mordon is a good-looking man and she is young—"

"What are you talking about?" His トン was 独裁的な and 命令（する）ing.

"I mean," she said, "that I 恐れる poor Lydia is in love with Mordon."

He sprang to his feet.

"It's a damned 嘘（をつく）!" he said, and she 星／主役にするd at him. "Now tell me what has happened to Lydia Meredith," he went on, "and let me tell you this, ジーンズ Briggerland, that if one hair of that girl's 長，率いる is 害（を与える）d, I will finish the work I began out there," he pointed to the garden, "and strangle you with my own 手渡すs."

She 解除するd her 注目する，もくろむs to his and dropped them again, and began to tremble, then turning suddenly on her heel, she fled to her room, locked the door and stood against it, white and shaking. For the second time in her life ジーンズ Briggerland was afraid.

She heard his quick footsteps in the passage outside, and there （機の）カム a tap on her door.

"Let me in," growled the man, and for a second she almost lost 支配（する）／統制する of herself. She looked wildly 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the room for some way of escape, and then as a thought struck her, she ran quickly into the bath- room, which opened from her room. A large sponge was 始める，決める to 乾燥した，日照りの by an open window, and this she 掴むd; on a shelf by the 味方する of the bath was a big 瓶／封じ込める of ammonia, and 回避するing her 直面する, she 注ぐd its contents upon the sponge until it was sodden, then with the dripping sponge in her 手渡す, she crept 支援する, turned the 重要な and opened the door.

The old man burst in, then, before he realised what was happening, the sponge was 圧力（をかける）d against his 直面する. The pungent 麻薬 almost blinded him, its paralysing ガス／煙s brought him on to his 膝s. He gripped her wrist and tried to 圧力（をかける） away her 手渡す, but now her arm was 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his neck, and he could not get the 購入（する）.

With a groan of agony he 崩壊（する）d on the 床に打ち倒す. In that instant she was on him like a cat, her 膝 between his shoulders.

Half unconscious he felt his 手渡すs drawn to his 支援する, and felt something 攻撃するing them together. She was using the silk girdle which had been about her waist, and her work was 効果的な.

Presently she turned him over on his 支援する. The ammonia was still in his 注目する，もくろむs, and he could not open them. The agony was terrible, almost unendurable. With her 手渡す under his arm he struggled to his feet. He felt her lead him somewhere, and suddenly he was 押し進めるd into a 議長，司会を務める. She left him alone for a little while, but presently （機の）カム 支援する and began to tie his feet together. It was a most amazing 選び出す／独身-手渡すd 逮捕（する）—even ジーンズ could never have imagined the 緩和する with which she could 伸び（る） her victory.

"I'm sorry to 傷つける an old man." There was a sneer in her 発言する／表明する which he had not heard before. "But if you 約束 not to shout, I will not gag you."

He heard the sound of running water, and presently with a wet cloth she began wiping his 注目する，もくろむs gently.

"You will be able to see in a minute," said ジーンズ's 冷静な／正味の 発言する／表明する. "In the 合間 you'll stay here until I send for the police."

For all his 苦痛 he was 軍隊d to chuckle.

"Until you send for the police, eh? You know me?"

"I only know you're a wicked old man who broke into this house whilst I was alone and the servants were out," she said.

"You know why I've come?" he 主張するd. "I've come to tell Mrs. Meredith that a hundred thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs have been taken from her bank on a (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進むd 署名."

"How absurd," said ジーンズ. She was sitting on the 辛勝する／優位 of the bath looking at the bedraggled 人物／姿／数字. "How could anybody draw money from Mrs. Meredith's bank whilst her dear friend and 後見人, Jack Glover, is in London to see that she is not robbed."

"Old Jaggs" glared up at her from his inflamed 注目する，もくろむs.

"You know very 井戸／弁護士席," he said distinctly, "that I am Jack Glover, and that I have not left Monte Carlo since Lydia Meredith arrived."

CHAPTER XXXVI

Mr. Briggerland did not enthuse over any form of sport or 演習. His hobbies were 限定するd to the handsome モーター-cycle, which not only 供給するd him with recreation, but had, on occasion, been of 援助 in the carrying out of important 計画（する）s, 明確に表すd by his daughter.

He stopped at Mentone for breakfast and climbed the hill to Grimaldi after passing the frontier 駅／配置する at Pont St. Louis. He had all the morning before him, and there was no 広大な／多数の／重要な hurry. At Ventimille he had a second breakfast, for the morning was keen and his appetite was good. He loafed through the little town, with a cigar between his teeth, bought some curios at a shop and continued his leisurely 旅行.

His 客観的な was San Remo. There was a train at one o'clock which would bring him and his machine 支援する to Monte Carlo, where it was his 意向 to spend the 残りの人，物 of the afternoon. At Pont St. Louis he had had a talk with the Customs Officer.

"No, m'sieur, there are very few travellers on the road in the morning," said the 公式の／役人. "It is not until late in the afternoon that the traffic begins. Times have changed on the Riviera, and so many people go to Cannes. The old road is almost now 砂漠d."

At eleven o'clock Mr. Briggerland （機の）カム to a 確かな part of the road and 設立する a hiding-place for his モーター-cycle—a small 農園 of olive trees on the hill 味方する. Incidentally it was an admirable 残り／休憩（する）ing place, for from here he 命令（する）d an 広範囲にわたる 見解（をとる） of the western road.

Lydia's 旅行 had been no いっそう少なく enjoyable. She, too, had stopped at Mentone to 調査する the town, and had left Pont St. Louis an hour after Mr. Briggerland had passed.

The road to San Remo runs under the 影をつくる／尾行する of 法外な hills through a 荒涼とした stretch of country from which even the industrious peasantry of northern Italy cannot 勝利，勝つ a 暮らし. Save for 孤立するd patches of cultivated land, the hills are 明らかにする and 脅迫的な.

With these gaunt plateaux on one 味方する and the 激しく揺する-strewn seashore on the other, there was little to 持つ／拘留する the 注目する，もくろむ save an 時折の glimpse of the Italian town in the far distance. There was a wild uncouthness about the scenery which awed the girl. いつかs the car would be running so 近づく the sea level that the spray of the waves 攻撃する，衝突する the windows; いつかs it would climb over an out-jutting headland and she would look 負かす／撃墜する upon a 玉石d beach a hundred feet below.

It was on the crest of a headland that the car stopped.

Here the road ran out in a 半分-circle so that from where she sat she could not see its 延長／続編 either before or behind. Ahead it slipped 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the shoulder of a high and over-hanging 集まり of 激しく揺する, through which the road must have been 削減（する）. Behind it dipped 負かす／撃墜する to a cove, hidden from sight.

"There is the Lovers' 議長，司会を務める, mademoiselle," said Mordon.

Half a dozen feet beneath the road level was a 幅の広い shelf of 激しく揺する. A few 石／投石する steps led 負かす／撃墜する and she followed them. The Lovers' 議長，司会を務める was carved in the 直面する of the 激しく揺する and she sat 負かす／撃墜する to 見解（をとる） the beauty of the scene. The 孤独, the stillness which only the lazy waves broke, the majesty of the setting, brought a strange peace to her. Beyond the 辛勝する／優位 of the ledge the cliff fell sheer to the water, and she shivered as she stepped 支援する from her 査察.

Mordon did not see her go. He sat on the running board of his car, his pale 直面する between his 手渡すs, a prey to his own 暗い／優うつな thoughts. There must be a 開発, he told himself. He was beginning to get uneasy, and for the first time he 疑問d the 誠実 of the woman who had been to him as a goddess.

He did not hear Mr. Briggerland, for the dark man was light of foot, when he （機の）カム 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the shoulder of the hill. Mordon's 支援する was toward him. Suddenly the chauffeur looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

"M'sieur," he stammered, and would have risen, but Briggerland laid his 手渡す on his shoulder.

"Do not rise, François," he said pleasantly. "I am afraid I was 迅速な last night."

"M'sieur, it was I who was 迅速な," said Mordon huskily, "it was unpardonable... "

"Nonsense," Briggerland patted the man's shoulder. "What is that boat out there—a man o' war, François?"

François Mordon turned his 長，率いる toward the sea, and Briggerland pointed the ivory-扱うd ピストル he had held behind his 支援する and 発射 him dead.

The 報告（する）／憶測 of the revolver thrown 負かす／撃墜する by the 激しく揺するs （機の）カム to Lydia like a clap of 雷鳴. At first she thought it was a tyre burst and hurried up the steps to see.

Mr. Briggerland was standing with his 支援する to the car. At his feet was the 宙返り／暴落するd 団体／死体 of Mordon.

"Mr.—Brig... !" she gasped, and saw the revolver in his 手渡す. With a cry she almost flung herself 負かす／撃墜する the steps as the revolver 爆発するd. The 弾丸 ripped her hat from her 長，率いる, and she flung up her 手渡すs, thinking she had been struck.

Then the dark 直面する showed over the parapet and again the revolver was 現在のd. She 星／主役にするd for a second into his benevolent 注目する，もくろむs, and then something 攻撃する，衝突する her violently and she staggered 支援する, and dropped over the 辛勝する／優位 of the shelf 負かす／撃墜する, straight 負かす／撃墜する into the sea below.

CHAPTER XXXVII

Probably ジーンズ Briggerland never gave a more perfect 代表 of shocked surprise than when old Jaggs 発表するd that he was Jack Glover.

"Mr. Glover," she said incredulously.

"If you'll be 肉親，親類d enough to 解放（する） my 手渡すs," said Jack savagely, "I will 納得させる you."

ジーンズ, all meekness, obeyed, and presently he stood up with a groan.

"You've nearly blinded me," he said, turning to the glass.

"If I'd known it was you—"

"Don't make me laugh!" he snapped. "Of course you knew who it was!" He took off the wig and peeled the 耐えるd from his 直面する.

"Was that very painful?" she asked, sympathetically, and Jack snorted.

"How was I to know that it was you?" she 需要・要求するd, virtuously indignant, "I thought you were a wicked old man—"

"You thought nothing of the sort, 行方不明になる Briggerland," said Jack. "You knew who I was, and you guessed why I had taken on this disguise. I was not many yards from you when it suddenly 夜明けd upon you that I could not sleep at Lydia Meredith's flat unless I went there in the guise of an old man."

"Why should you want to sleep at her flat at all?" she asked innocently. "It doesn't seem to me to be a very proper ambition."

"That is an unnecessary question, and I'm wasting my time when I answer you," said Jack 厳しく. "I went there to save her life, to 保護する her against your murderous 陰謀（を企てる）s!"

"My murderous 陰謀（を企てる）s?" she repeated aghast. "You surely don't know what you're 説."

"I know this," and his 直面する was not pleasant to see. "I have 十分な 証拠 to 安全な・保証する the 逮捕（する） of your father, and かもしれない yourself. For months I have been working on that first providential 事故 of yours—the rich Australian who died with such remarkable suddenness. I may not get you in the Meredith 事例／患者, and I may not be able to 刑務所，拘置所 you for your attacks on Mrs. Meredith, but I have enough 証拠 to hang your father for the earlier 罪，犯罪."

Her 直面する was blank—expressionless. Never before had she been brought up short with such a 脅し as the man was uttering, nor had she ever been in danger of （犯罪，病気などの）発見. And all the time she was 注目する，もくろむing him so 刻々と, not a muscle of her 直面する moving, her mind was groping 支援する into the past, 診察するing every 詳細（に述べる） of the 罪，犯罪 he had について言及するd, 捜し出すing for some 欠陥 in the carefully 用意が出来ている 計画（する） which had brought a good man to a violent and untimely end.

"That 肉親，親類d of bluff doesn't impress me," she said at last. "You're in a poor way when you have to invent 罪，犯罪s to attach to me."

"We'll go into that later. Where is Lydia?" he said すぐに.

"I tell you I don't know, except that she has gone out for a 運動. I 推定する／予想する her 支援する very soon."

"Is your father with her?"

She shook her 長，率いる.

"No, father went out 早期に. I don't know who gave you 当局 to cross-診察する me. Why, Jack Glover, you have all the importance of a French 診察するing 治安判事," she smiled.

"You may learn how important they are soon," he said 意味ありげに. "Where is your chauffeur, Mordon?"

"He is gone, too—in fact, he is 運動ing Lydia. Why?" she asked with a little 強化するing of heart. She had only just been in time, she thought. So they had associated Mordon with the 偽造!

His first words 確認するd this 疑惑.

"There is a 令状 for Mordon which will be 遂行する／発効させるd as soon as he returns," said Jack. "We have been able to trace him in London and also the woman who 現在のd the cheque. We know his movements from the time he left Nice by aeroplane for Paris to the time he returned to Nice. The people who changed the money for him will 断言する to his 身元."

If he 推定する／予想するd to startle her he was disappointed. She raised her eyebrows.

"I can't believe it is possible. Mordon was such an honest man," she said. "We 信用d him 暗黙に, and never once did he betray our 信用. Now, Mr. Glover," she said coolly, "might I 示唆する that an interview with a gentleman in my bedroom is not calculated to 増加する my servants' 尊敬（する）・点 for me? Will you go downstairs and wait until I come?"

"You'll not 試みる／企てる to leave this house?" he said, and she laughed.

"Really, you're going on like one of those infallible 探偵，刑事s one reads about in the popular magazines," she said a little contemptuously. "You have no 当局 whatever to keep me from leaving this house and nobody knows that better than you. But you needn't be afraid. Sit on the stairs if you like until I come 負かす／撃墜する."

When he had gone she rang the bell for her maid and 手渡すd her an envelope.

"I shall be in the saloon, talking to Mr. Glover," she said in a low 発言する／表明する. "I want you to bring this in and say that you 設立する it in the hall."

"Yes, 行方不明になる," said the woman.

ジーンズ proceeded leisurely to her 洗面所. In the struggle her dress had been torn, and she changed it for a pale green silk gown, and Jack, pacing in the hall below, was on the point of coming up to discover if she had made her escape, when she sailed serenely 負かす／撃墜する the stairs.

"I should like to know one thing, Mr. Glover," she said as she went into the saloon. "What do you ーするつもりである doing? What is your 即座の 計画（する）? Are you going to spirit Lydia away from us? Of course, I know you're in love with her and all that sort of thing."

His 直面する went pink.

"I am not in love with Mrs. Meredith," he lied.

"Don't be silly," she said 事実上, "of course you're in love with her."

"My first 職業 is to get that money 支援する, and you're going to help me," he said.

"Of course I'm going to help you," she agreed. "If Mordon has been such a scoundrel, he must 苦しむ the consequence. I'm sure that you are too clever to have made any mistake. Poor Mordon. I wonder what made him do it, because he is such a good friend of Lydia's, and 本気で, Mr. Glover, I do think Lydia is 存在 indiscreet."

"You made that 発言／述べる before," he said 静かに. "Now perhaps you'll explain what you mean."

She shrugged her shoulders.

"They are always about together. I saw them strolling on the lawn last night till やめる a late hour, and I was so 脅すd lest Mrs. Cole- Mortimer noticed it too—"

"Which means that Mrs. Cole-Mortimer did not notice it. You're clever, ジーンズ! Even as you invent you make 準備s to 反駁する any 証拠 that the other 味方する can produce. I don't believe a word you say."

There was a knock at the door and the maid entered 耐えるing a letter on a salver.

"This was 演説（する）／住所d to you, 行方不明になる," she said. "It was on the hall （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する—didn't you see it?"

"No," said ジーンズ in surprise. She took the letter, looked 負かす／撃墜する at the 演説（する）／住所 and opened it.

He saw a look of amazement and horror come to her 直面する.

"Good God!" gasped ジーンズ.

"What is it?" he said, springing up.

She 星／主役にするd at the letter again and from the letter to him.

"Read it," she said in a hollow 発言する／表明する.

"Dear Mademoiselle,

"I have returned from London and have 自白するd to Madame Meredith that I have (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進むd her 指名する and have drawn &続けざまに猛撃する;100,000 from her bank. And now I have learnt that Madame Meredith loves me. There is only one end to this—that which you see—"

Jack read the letter twice.

"It is in his 令状ing, too," he muttered. "It's impossible, incredible! I tell you I've had Mrs. Meredith under my 注目する，もくろむs all the time she has been here. Is there a letter from her?" he asked suddenly. "But no, it is impossible, impossible!"

"I 港／避難所't been into her room. Will you come up with me?"

He followed her up the stairs and into Lydia's big bedroom, and the first thing that caught his 注目する，もくろむ was a 調印（する）d letter on a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する 近づく the bed. He 選ぶd it up. It was 演説（する）／住所d to him, in Lydia's handwriting, and feverishly he tore it open.

His 直面する, when he had finished reading, was as white as hers had been.

"Where have they gone?" he asked.

"They went to San Remo."

"By car?"

"Of course."

Without a word he turned and ran 負かす／撃墜する the stairs out of the house.

The taxi that had brought him in the 役割 of Jaggs had gone, but 負かす／撃墜する the road, a dozen yards away, was the car he had 雇うd on the day he （機の）カム to Monte Carlo. He gave 指示／教授／教育s to the driver and jumped in. The car sped through Mentone, stopped only the briefest while at the Customs 障壁 whilst Jack 追求するd his 調査s.

Yes, a lady had passed, but she had not returned.

How long ago?

Perhaps an hour; perhaps いっそう少なく.

At 最高の，を越す 速度(を上げる） the big car 雷鳴d along the sea road, 新たな展開ing and turning, 飛び込み into valleys and climbing 法外な headlands, and then 一連の会議、交渉／完成するing a corner, Jack saw the car and a little （人が）群がる about it. His heart turned to 石／投石する as he leapt to the road.

He saw the 支援するs of two Italian gendarmes, and 押し進めるing aside the little knot of idlers, he （機の）カム into the centre of the group and stopped. Mordon lay on his 直面する in a pool of 血, and one of the policemen was 持つ／拘留するing an ivory-扱うd revolver.

"It was with this that the 罪，犯罪 was committed," he said in florid Italian. "Three of the 議会s are empty. Now, at whom were the other two 発射する／解雇するd?"

Jack reeled and gripped the mud-guard of the car for support, then his 注目する，もくろむs 逸脱するd to the 開始 in the 塀で囲む which ran on the seaward 味方する of the road.

He walked to the parapet and looked over, and the first thing he saw was a torn hat and 隠す, and he knew it was Lydia's.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

Mr. Briggerland, 殺人，大当り time on the quay at Monaco, saw the ジャングル Queen come into harbour and watched Marcus land, carrying his lines in his 手渡す.

As Marcus （機の）カム abreast of him he called and Mr. Stepney looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する with a start.

"Hello, Briggerland," he said, swallowing something.

"井戸／弁護士席, have you been fishing?" asked Mr. Briggerland in his most paternal manner.

"Yes," 認める Marcus.

"Did you catch anything?"

Stepney nodded.

"Only one," he said.

"Hard luck," said Mr. Briggerland, with a smile, "but where is Mrs. Meredith—I understood she was going out with you to-day?"

"She went to San Remo," said Stepney すぐに, and the other nodded.

"To be sure," he said. "I had forgotten that."

Later he bought a copy of the Nicoise and learnt of the 悲劇 on the San Remo road. It brought him 支援する to the house, a visibly agitated man.

"This is shocking news, my dear," he panted into the saloon and stood 在庫／株 still at the sight of Mr. Jack Glover.

"Come in, Briggerland," said Jack, without 儀式. There was a man with him, a tall, keen Frenchman whom Briggerland recognised as the 長，指導者 探偵，刑事 of the Préfecture. "We want you to give an account of your 活動／戦闘s."

"My 活動／戦闘s?" said Mr. Briggerland indignantly. "Do you associate me with this dreadful 悲劇? A 悲劇," he said, "which has stricken me almost dumb with horror and 悔恨. Why did I ever 許す that villain even to speak to poor Lydia?"

"にもかかわらず, m'sieur," said the tall man 静かに, "you must tell us where you have been."

"That is easily explained. I went to San Remo."

"By road?"

"Yes, by road," said Mr. Briggerland, "on my モーター-bicycle."

"What time did you arrive in San Remo?"

"At midday, or it may have been a ４半期/4分の1 of an hour before."

"You know that the 殺人 must have been committed at half-past eleven?" said Jack.

"So the newspapers tell me."

"Where did you go in San Remo?" asked the 探偵，刑事.

"I went to a café and had a glass of ワイン, then I strolled about the town and lunched at the Victoria. I caught the one o'clock train to Monte Carlo."

"Did you hear nothing of the 殺人?"

"Not a word," said Mr. Briggerland, "not a word."

"Did you see the car?"

Mr. Briggerland shook his 長，率いる.

"I left some time before poor Lydia," he said softly.

"Did you know of any attachment between the chauffeur and your guest?"

"I had no idea such a thing 存在するd. If I had," said Mr. Briggerland virtuously, "I should have taken 即座の steps to have brought poor Lydia to her senses."

"Your daughter says that they were frequently together. Did you notice this?"

"Yes, I did notice it, but my daughter and I are very democratic. We have made a friend of Mordon and I suppose what would have seemed familiar to you, would pass unnoticed with us. Yes, I certainly do remember my poor friend and Mordon walking together in the garden."

"Is this yours?" The 探偵，刑事 took from behind a curtain an old British ライフル銃／探して盗む.

"Yes, that is 地雷," 認める Briggerland without a moment's hesitation. "It is one I bought in Amiens, a souvenir of our gallant 兵士s—"

"I know, I やめる understand your 愛国的な 動機 in 購入（する）ing it," said the 探偵，刑事 dryly, "but will you tell us how this passed from your 所有／入手."

"I 港／避難所't the slightest notion," said Mr. Briggerland in surprise. "I had no idea it was lost—I'd lost sight of it for some weeks. Can it be that Mordon—but no, I must not think so evilly of him."

"What were you going to 示唆する?" asked Jack. "That Mordon 解雇する／砲火／射撃d at Mrs. Meredith when she was on the swimming raft? If you are, I can save you the trouble of telling that 嘘（をつく）. It was you who 解雇する／砲火／射撃d, and it was I who knocked you out."

Mr. Briggerland's 直面する was a 熟考する／考慮する.

"I can't understand why you make such a wild and unfounded 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金," he said gently. "Perhaps, my dear, you could elucidate this mystery."

ジーンズ had not spoken since he entered. She sat bolt upright on a 議長，司会を務める, her 手渡すs 倍のd in her （競技場の）トラック一周, her sad 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd now upon Jack, now upon the 探偵，刑事. She shook her 長，率いる.

"I know nothing about the ライフル銃／探して盗む, and did not even know you 所有するd one," she said. "But please answer all their questions, father. I am as anxious as you are to get to the 底（に届く） of this dreadful 悲劇. Have you told my father about the letters which were discovered?"

The 探偵，刑事 shook his 長，率いる.

"I have not seen your father until he arrived this moment," he said.

"Letters?" Mr. Briggerland looked at his daughter. "Did poor Lydia leave a letter?"

She nodded.

"I think Mr. Glover will tell you, father," she said. "Poor Lydia had an attachment for Mordon. It is very （疑いを）晴らす what happened. They went out to-day, never ーするつもりであるing to return—"

"Mrs. Meredith had no 意向 of going to the Lovers' 議長，司会を務める until you 示唆するd the trip to her," said Jack 静かに. "Mrs. Cole-Mortimer is very emphatic on that point."

"Has the 団体／死体 been 設立する?" asked Mr. Briggerland.

"Nothing has been 設立する but the chauffeur," said the 探偵，刑事.

After a few more questions he took Jack outside.

"It looks very much to me as though it were one of those 罪，犯罪s of passion which are so たびたび（訪れる） in this country," he said. "Mordon was a Frenchman and I have been able to identify him by tattoo 示すs on his arm, as a man who has been in the 手渡すs of the police many times."

"You think there is no hope?"

The 探偵，刑事 shrugged his shoulders.

"We are dragging the pool. There is very 深い water under the 激しく揺する, but the chances are that the 団体／死体 has been washed out to sea. There is 明確に no 証拠 against these people, except yours. The letters might, of course, have been (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進むd, but you say you are 確かな that the 令状ing is Mrs. Meredith's."

Jack nodded.

They were walking 負かす／撃墜する the road に向かって the officers' waiting car, when Jack asked:

"May I see that letter again?"

The 探偵，刑事 took it from his pocket 調書をとる／予約する and Jack stopped and scanned it.

"Yes, it is her 令状ing," he said and then uttered an exclamation.

"Do you see that?"

He pointed 熱望して to two little 示すs before the words "Dear friend."

"Quotation 示すs," said the 探偵，刑事, puzzled. "Why did she 令状 that?"

"I've got it," said Jack. "The story! Mademoiselle Briggerland told me she was 令状ing a story, and I remember she said she had writer's cramp. Suppose she dictated a 部分 of the story to Mrs. Meredith, and suppose in that story there occurred this letter: Lydia would have put the quotation 示すs mechanically."

The 探偵，刑事 took the letter from his 手渡す.

"It is possible," he said. "The 令状ing is very even—it shows no 調印する of agitation, and of course the character's 初期のs might be 'L.M.' It is an ingenious hypothesis, and not wholly improbable, but if this were a part of the story, there would be other sheets. Would you like me to search the house?"

Jack shook his 長，率いる.

"She's much too clever to have them in the house," he said. "More likely she's put them in the 解雇する／砲火／射撃."

"What 解雇する／砲火／射撃?" asked the 探偵，刑事 dryly. "These houses have no 解雇する／砲火／射撃s, they're central heated—unless she went to the kitchen."

"Which she wouldn't do," said Jack thoughtfully. "No, she'd 燃やす them in the garden."

The 探偵，刑事 nodded, and they returned to the house.

ジーンズ, 深い in conversation with her father, saw them 再現する, and watched them as they walked slowly across the lawn toward the trees, their 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on the ground.

"What are they looking for?" she asked with a frown.

"I'll go and see," said Briggerland, but she caught his arm.

"Do you think they'll tell you?" she asked sarcastically.

She ran up to her own room and watched them from behind a curtain. Presently they passed out of sight to the other 味方する of the house, and she went into Lydia's room and overlooked them from there. Suddenly she saw the 探偵，刑事 stoop and 選ぶ up something from the ground, and her teeth 始める，決める.

"The burnt story," she said. "I never dreamt they'd look for that."

It was only a 捨てる they 設立する, but it was in Lydia's 令状ing, and the pencil 示す was 明確に 明白な on the charred ashes.

"'Laura ツバメ,'" read the 探偵，刑事. "'L.M.,' and there are the words '悲劇の' and '悔恨'."

From the 残りの人，物 of the charred fragments they collected nothing of importance. ジーンズ watched them disappear along the avenue, and went 負かす／撃墜する to her father.

"I had a fright," she said.

"You look as if you've still got it," he said. He 注目する，もくろむd her 熱心に.

She shook her 長，率いる.

"Father, you must understand that this adventure may end disastrously. There are ninety-nine chances against the truth 存在 known, but it is the extra chance that is worrying me. We せねばならない have settled Lydia more 静かに, more 自然に. There was too much melodrama and 狙撃, but I don't see how we could have done anything else—Mordon was very tiresome."

"Where did Glover come from?" asked Mr. Briggerland.

"He's been here all the time," said the girl.

"What?"

She nodded.

"He was old Jaggs. I had an idea he was, but I was 確かな when I remembered that he had stayed at Lydia's flat."

He put 負かす／撃墜する his tea cup and wiped his lips with a silk handkerchief.

"I wish this 商売／仕事 was over," he said fretfully. "It looks as if we shall have trouble."

"Of course we shall," she said coldly. "You didn't 推定する／予想する to get a fortune of six hundred thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs without trouble, did you? I dare say we shall be 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd. But it takes a lot of 疑惑 to worry me. We'll be in 静める water soon, for the 残り／休憩（する） of our lives."

"I hope so," he said without any 広大な／多数の／重要な 有罪の判決.

Mrs. Cole-Mortimer was prostrate and in bed, and ジーンズ had no patience to see her.

She herself ordered the dinner, and they had finished when a 訪問者 in the 形態／調整 of Mr. Marcus Stepney （機の）カム in.

It was unusual of Marcus to appear at the dinner hour, except in evening dress, and she 発言／述べるd the fact wonderingly.

"Can I have a word with you, ジーンズ?" he asked.

"What is it, what is it?" asked Mr. Briggerland testily. "港／避難所't we had enough mysteries?"

Marcus 注目する，もくろむd him without favour.

"We'll have another one, if you don't mind," he said unpleasantly, and the girl, whose every sense was 警報, 選ぶd up a 包む and walked into the garden, with Marcus に引き続いて on her heels.

Ten minutes passed and they did not return, a ４半期/4分の1 of an hour went by, and Mr. Briggerland grew uneasy. He got up from his 議長，司会を務める, put 負かす／撃墜する his 調書をとる／予約する, and was half-way across the room when the door opened and Jack Glover （機の）カム in, followed by the 探偵，刑事.

It was the Frenchman who spoke.

"M'sieur Briggerland, I have a 令状 from the Préfect of the Alpes 海上のs for your 逮捕（する）."

"My 逮捕（する）?" spluttered the dark man, his teeth chattering. "What —what is the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金?"

"The wilful 殺人 of François Mordon," said the officer.

"You 嘘（をつく）—you 嘘（をつく）," 叫び声をあげるd Briggerland. "I have no knowledge of any—" his words sank into a throaty gurgle, and he 星／主役にするd past the 探偵，刑事. Lydia Meredith was standing in the doorway.

CHAPTER XXXIX

The morning for Mr. Stepney had been doubly disappointing; again and again he drew up an empty line, and at last he flung the 取り組む into the 井戸／弁護士席 of the 開始する，打ち上げる.

"Even the damn fish won't bite," he said, and the humour of his 発言／述べる 元気づけるd him. He was ten miles from the shore, and the blue coast was a 薄暗い, ragged line on the horizon. He pulled out a big 昼食 basket from the cabin and 注目する，もくろむd it with disfavour. It had cost him two hundred フランs. He opened the basket, and at the sight of its contents, was inclined to 再考する his earlier 見解（をとる） that he had wasted his money, the more so since the maŒtre d'h“tel had thoughtfully 含むd two quart 瓶／封じ込めるs of シャンペン酒.

Mr. Marcus Stepney made a hearty meal, and by the time he had dropped an empty 瓶／封じ込める into the sea, he was inclined to take a more cheerful 見解（をとる） of life. He threw over the 破片 of the lunch, 押し進めるd the basket under one of the seats of the cabin, pulled up his 錨，総合司会者 and started the engines running.

The sky was a brighter blue and the sea held a finer sparkle, and he was inclined to take a 見解（をとる） of even ジーンズ Briggerland, more generous than any he had held.

"Little devil," he smiled reminiscently, as he murmured the words.

He opened the second 瓶／封じ込める of シャンペン酒 in her honour—Mr. Marcus Stepney was usually an abstemious man—and drank solemnly, if not soberly, her health and happiness. As the sun grew warmer he began to feel an unaccountable sleepiness. He was sober enough to know that to 落ちる asleep in the middle of the ocean was to ask for trouble, and he 始める，決める the 屈服する of the ジャングル Queen for the nearest beach, hoping to find a 上陸 place.

He 設立する something better as he skirted the shore. The sea and the 天候 had scooped out a big hollow under a high cliff, a hollow just big enough to take the ジャングル Queen and 深い and still enough to 確実にする her a 安全な 船の停泊地. A 激しく揺する 障壁 interposed between the breakers and this 深い pool which the waves had hollowed in the stony 床に打ち倒す of the ocean. As he dropped his 錨，総合司会者 he 乱すd a school of fish, and his angling instincts re-awoke. He let 負かす／撃墜する his line over the 味方する, seated himself comfortable in one of the two big basket 議長，司会を務めるs, and was dozing comfortably...

It was the sound of a 発射 that woke him. It was followed by another, and a third. Almost すぐに something dropped from the cliff, and fell with a mighty splash into the water.

Marcus was wide awake now, and almost sobered. He peered 負かす／撃墜する into the （疑いを）晴らす depths, and saw a 人物／姿／数字 of a woman turning over and over. Then as it floated 上向きs it （機の）カム on its 支援する, and he saw the 直面する. Without a moment's hesitation he dived into the water.

He would have been wiser if he had waited until she floated to the surface, for now he 設立する a difficulty in 回復するing the boat. After a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 of trouble, he managed to reach into the 開始する，打ち上げる and pull out a rope, which he fastened 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the girl's waist and drew tight to a small stanchion. Then he climbed into the boat himself, and pulled her after him.

He thought at first she was dead, but listening intently he heard the （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing of her heart, and searched the 昼食 basket for a small flask of liqueurs, which Alphonse, the 長，率いる waiter, had packed. He put the 瓶／封じ込める to her lips and 注ぐd a small 量 into her mouth. She choked convulsively, and presently opened her 注目する，もくろむs.

"You're amongst friends," said Marcus unnecessarily.

She sat up and covered her 直面する with her 手渡すs. It all （機の）カム 支援する to her in a flash, and the horror of it froze her 血.

"What has happened to you?" asked Marcus.

"I don't know 正確に／まさに," she said faintly. And then: "Oh, it was dreadful, dreadful!"

Marcus Stepney 申し込む／申し出d her the flask of liqueurs, and when she shook her 長，率いる, he helped himself liberally.

Lydia was conscious of a 苦痛 in her left shoulder. The sleeve was torn, and across the 厚い of the arm there was an ugly raw weal.

"It looks like a 弾丸 示す to me," said Marcus Stepney, suddenly 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な. "I heard a 発射. Did somebody shoot at you?"

She nodded.

"Who?"

She tried to でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる the word, but no sound （機の）カム, and then she burst into a fit of weeping.

"Not ジーンズ?" he asked hoarsely.

She shook her 長，率いる.

"Briggerland?"

She nodded.

"Briggerland!" Mr. Stepney whistled, and as he whistled he shivered. "Let's get out of here," he said. "We shall catch our death of 冷淡な. The sun will warm us up."

He started the engines going, and 安全に navigated the 狭くする passage to the open sea. He had to get a long way out before he could catch a glimpse of the road, then he saw the car, and a cycling policeman dismounting and bending over something. He put away his telescope and turned to the girl.

"This is bad, Mrs. Meredith," he said. "Thank God I wasn't in it."

"Where are you taking me?" she asked.

"I'm taking you out to sea," said Marcus with a little smile. "Don't get 脅すd, Mrs. Meredith. I want to hear that story of yours, and if it is anything like what I 恐れる, then it would be better for you that Briggerland thinks you are dead."

She told the story as far as she knew it and he listened, not interrupting, until she had finished.

"Mordon dead, eh? That's bad. But how on earth are they going to explain it? I suppose," he said with a smile, "you didn't 令状 a letter 説 that you were going to run away with the chauffeur?"

She sat up at this.

"I did 令状 a letter," she said slowly. "It wasn't a real letter, it was in a story which ジーンズ was dictating."

She の近くにd her 注目する，もくろむs.

"How awful," she said. "I can't believe it even now."

"Tell me about the story," said the man quickly.

"It was a story she was 令状ing for a London magazine, and her wrist 傷つける, and I wrote it 負かす／撃墜する as she dictated. Only about three pages, but one of the pages was a letter supposed to have been written by the ヘロイン 説 that she was going away, as she loved somebody who was beneath her socially."

"Good God!" said Marcus, genuinely shocked. "Did ジーンズ do that?"

He seemed 絶対 鎮圧するd by the realisation of ジーンズ Briggerland's 行為, and he did not speak again for a long time.

"I'm glad I know," he said at last.

"Do you really think that all this time she has been trying to kill me?"

He nodded.

"She has used everybody, even me," he said 激しく. "I don't want you to think 不正に of me, Mrs. Meredith, but I'm going to tell you the truth. I'd 準備／条項d this little ヨット to-day for a twelve hundred mile trip, and you were to be my companion."

"I?" she said incredulously.

"It was ジーンズ's idea, really, though I think she must have altered her 見解（をとる）, or thought I had forgotten all she 示唆するd. I ーするつもりであるd taking you out to sea and keeping you out there until you agreed—" he shook his 長，率いる. "I don't think I could have done it really," he said, speaking half to himself. "I'm not really built for a conspirator. 非，不，無 of that rough stuff ever 控訴，上告d to me. 井戸／弁護士席, I didn't try, anyway."

"No, Mr. Stepney," she said 静かに, "and I don't think, if you had, you would have 後継するd."

He was in his frankest mood, and startled her later when he told her of his profession, without 試みる／企てるing to excuse or minimise the method by which he earned his 暮らし.

"I was in a pretty bad way, and I thought there was 平易な money coming, and that rather tempted me," he said. "I know you will think I am a despicable cad, but you can't think too 不正に of me, really."

He 調査するd the shore. Ahead of them the green tongue of Cap ツバメ jutted out into the sea.

"I think I'll take you to Nice," he said. "We'll attract いっそう少なく attention there, and probably I'll be able to get into touch with your old Mr. Jaggs. You've no idea where I can find him? At any 率, I can go to the 郊外住宅 Casa and discover what sort of a yarn is 存在 told."

"And probably I can get my 着せる／賦与するs 乾燥した，日照りの," she said with a little grimace. "I wonder if you know how uncomfortable I am?"

"Pretty 井戸／弁護士席," he said calmly. "Every time I move a new stream of water runs 負かす／撃墜する my 支援する."

It was half-past three in the afternoon when they reached Nice, and Marcus saw the girl 安全に to an hotel, changed himself and brought the ヨット 支援する to Monaco, where Briggerland had seen him.

For two hours Marcus Stepney 格闘するd with his love for a girl who was plainly a murderess, and in the end love won. When 不明瞭 fell he 準備／条項d the ジャングル Queen, 負担d her with 石油, and 長，率いるing her out to sea made the swimming cove of Cap ツバメ. It was to the boat that ジーンズ flew.

"What about my father?" she asked as she stepped 船内に.

"I think they've caught him," said Marcus.

"He'll hate 刑務所，拘置所," said the girl complacently. "Hurry, Marcus, I'd hate it, too!"

CHAPTER XL

Lydia took up her ４半期/4分の1s in a 静かな hotel in Nice and Mrs. Cole- Mortimer agreed to stay on and chaperon her.

Though she had felt no 影響s from her terrifying experience on the first day, she 設立する herself a nervous 難破させる when she woke in the morning, and wisely decided to stay in bed.

Jack, who had 推定する／予想するd the relapse, called in a doctor, but Lydia 辞退するd to see him. The next day she received the lawyer.

She had only 簡潔に 輪郭（を描く）d the part which Marcus Stepney had played in her 救助（する）, but she had said enough to make Jack call at Stepney's hotel to thank him in person. Mr. Stepney, however, was not at home—he had not been home all night, but this （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） his 控えめの informant did not volunteer. Nor was the 見えなくなる of the ジャングル Queennoticed for two days. It was Mrs. Cole-Mortimer, in settling up her accounts with Jack, who について言及するd the "ヨット."

"The ジャングル Queen," said Jack, "that's the モーター-開始する，打ち上げる, isn't it? I've seen her lying in the harbour. I thought she was Stepney's 所有物／資産／財産."

His 疑惑s 誘発するd, he called again at Stepney's hotel, and this time his 調査 was 支援するd by the presence of a 探偵，刑事. Then it was made known that Mr. Stepney had not been seen since the night of Briggerland's 逮捕（する）.

"That is where they've gone. Stepney was very keen on the girl, I think," said Jack.

The 探偵，刑事 was annoyed.

"If I'd known before we could have 迎撃するd them. We have several 破壊者s in the harbour at Villafrance. Now I am afraid it is too late."

"Where would they make for?" asked Jack.

The officer shrugged his shoulders.

"God knows," he said. "They could get into Italy or into Spain, かもしれない Barcelona. I will telegraph the 長，指導者 of the Police there."

But the Barcelona police had no （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） to give. The ジャングル Queenhad not been sighted. The 天候 was 静める, the sea smooth, and everything favourable for the escape.

調査s elicited the fact that Mr. Stepney had bought large 量s of 石油 a few days before his 出発, and had augmented his 供給（する） the evening he had left. Also he had bought 準備／条項s in かなりの 量s.

The 殺人 was a week old, and Mr. Briggerland had undergone his 予選 examination, when a wire （機の）カム through from the Spanish police that a モーター-boat answering the description of the ジャングル Queenhad called at Malaga, had 準備／条項d, refilled, and put out to sea again, before the police 当局, who had a description of the pair, had time to 調査／捜査する.

"You'll think I have a 病気d mind," said Lydia, "but I hope she gets away."

Jack laughed.

"If you had been with her much longer, Lydia, she would have turned you into a first-class 犯罪の," he said. "I hope you do not forget that she has 正確に／まさに a hundred thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs of yours—in other words, a sixth of your fortune."

Lydia shook her 長，率いる.

"That is almost a 慰安ing thought," she said. "I know she is what she is, Jack, but her greatest 罪，犯罪 is that she was born six hundred years too late. If she had lived in the days of the Italian Renaissance she would have made history."

"Your sympathy is immoral," said Jack. "By the way, Briggerland has been 手渡すd over to the Italian 当局. The 罪，犯罪 was committed on Italian 国／地域 and that saves his 長，率いる from 落ちるing into the basket."

She shuddered.

"What will they do to him?"

"He'll be 拘留するd for life," was the reply "and I rather think that's a little worse than the guillotine. You say you worry for ジーンズ —I'm rather sorry for old man Briggerland. If he hadn't tried to live up to his daughter he might have been a most respectable member of society."

They were strolling through the quaint, 狭くする streets of Grasse, and Jack, who knew and loved the town, was showing her sights which made her forget that the Perfumerie Factory, the メッカ of the 普通の／平均（する） tourist, had any 存在.

"I suppose I'll have to settle 負かす／撃墜する now," she said with an 表現 of distaste.

"I suppose you will," said Jack, "and you'll have to settle up, too; your 合法的な expenses are something 猛烈な／残忍な."

"Why do you say that?" she asked, stopping in her walk and looking at him 厳粛に.

"I am speaking as your mercenary lawyer," said Jack.

"You are trying to put your service on another level," she 訂正するd. "I 借りがある everything I have to you. My fortune is the least of these. I 借りがある you my life three times over."

"Four," he 訂正するd, "and to Marcus Stepney once."

"Why have you done so much for me? Were you 利益／興味d?" she asked after a pause.

"Very," he replied. "I was 利益／興味d in you from the moment I saw you step out of Mr. Mordon's taxi into the mud, but I was 特に 利益／興味d in you—"

"When?" she asked.

"When I sat outside your door night after night and discovered you didn't snore," he said shamelessly, and she went red.

"I hope you'll never 言及する to your old Jaggs's adventures. It was very—"

"What?"

"I was going to say horrid, but I shouldn't be telling the truth," she 認める 率直に. "I liked having you there. Poor Mrs. Morgan will be disconsolate when she discovers that we've lost our lodger."

They walked into the 冷静な／正味の of the 古代の cathedral and sat 負かす／撃墜する.

"There's something very soothing about a church, isn't there?" he whispered. "Look at that gorgeous window. If I were ever rich enough to marry the woman I loved, I should be married in a cathedral like this, 十分な of old tombs and statues and stained glass."

"How rich would you have to be?" she asked.

"As rich as she is."

She bent over toward him, her lips against his ear.

"Tell me how much money you have," she whispered, "and I'll give away all I have in 超過 of that 量."

He caught her 手渡す and held it 急速な／放蕩な, and they sat there before the altar of St. Catherine until the sun went 負かす／撃墜する and the disapproving old woman who 行為／法令／行動するd as the cathedral's 管理人 tapped them on the shoulder.

CHAPTER XLI

"That is Gibraltar," said Marcus Stepney, pointing ahead to a grey 形態／調整 that ぼんやり現れるd up from the sea.

He was unshaven for he had forgotten to bring his かみそり and he was pinched with the 冷淡な. His overcoat was turned up to his ears, in spite of which he shivered.

ジーンズ did not seem to be 影響する／感情d by the sudden change of 気温. She sat on the 最高の，を越す of the cabin, her chin in the palm of her 手渡す, her 肘 on her crossed 膝.

"You are not going into Gibraltar?" she asked.

He shook his 長，率いる.

"I think not," he said, "nor to Algeciras. Did you see that fellow on the quay yelling for the （手先の）技術 to come 支援する after we left Malaga? That was a bad 調印する. I 推定する／予想する the police have 指示／教授／教育s to 拘留する this boat, and most of the ports must have been 通知するd."

"How long can we run?"

"We've got enough gas and grub to reach Dacca," he said. "That's 概略で an eight-days' 旅行."

"On the African coast?"

He nodded, although she could not see him.

"Where could we get a ship to take us to South America?" she asked, turning 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

"Lisbon," he said thoughtfully. "Yes, we could reach Lisbon, but there are too many steamers about and we're 確かな to be sighted. We might run across to Las Palmas, most of the South American boats call there, but if I were you I should stick to Europe. Come and take this 舵輪／支配, ジーンズ."

She obeyed without question, and he continued the work which had been interrupted by a late meal, the 絵 of the boat's 船体, a difficult 商売／仕事, 伴う／関わるing 曲芸, since it was necessary for him to lean over the 味方する. He had bought the grey paint at Malaga, and happily there was not much surface that 要求するd attention. The stumpy mast of the ジャングル Queen had already gone overboard—he had sawn it off with 広大な／多数の／重要な 労働 the day after they had left Cap ツバメ.

She watched him with a 思索的な 注目する，もくろむ as he worked, and thought he had never looked やめる so unattractive as he did with an eight-days' growth of 耐えるd, his shirt stained with paint and 石油. His 手渡すs were grimy and nobody would have recognised in this scarecrow the elegant habitué of those 流行の／上流の 訴える手段／行楽地s which smart society たびたび（訪れる）s.

Yet she had 推論する／理由 to be 感謝する to him. His 行為／行う toward her had been irreproachable. Not one word of love had been spoken, nor, until now, had their 未来 計画（する）s, for it 影響する／感情d them both, been discussed.

"Suppose we reach South America 安全に?" she asked. "What happens then, Marcus?"

He looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する from his work in surprise.

"We'll get married," he said 静かに, and she laughed.

"And what happens to the 現在の Mrs. Stepney?"

"She has 離婚d me," said Stepney 突然に. "I got the papers the day we left."

"I see," said ジーンズ softly. "We'll get married—" then stopped.

He looked at her and frowned.

"Isn't that your idea, too?" he asked.

"Married? Yes, that's my idea, too. It seems a queer uninteresting way of finishing things, doesn't it, and yet I suppose it isn't."

He had 再開するd his work and was leaning far over the 屈服する 意図 upon his 労働. Suddenly she spun the wheel 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and the 開始する，打ち上げる heeled over to starboard. For a second it seemed that Marcus Stepney could not 持続する his balance against that 予期しない impetus, but by a superhuman 成果／努力 he kicked himself 支援する to safety, and 星／主役にするd at her with a blanched 直面する.

"Why did you do that?" he asked hoarsely. "You nearly had me overboard."

"There was a porpoise lying on the surface of the sea, asleep, I think," she said 静かに. "I'm very sorry, Marcus, but I didn't know that it would throw you off your balance."

He looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する for the sleeping fish but it had disappeared.

"You told me to 避ける them, you know," she said apologetically. "Did I really put you in any danger?"

He licked his 乾燥した，日照りの lips, 選ぶd up the paint-マリファナ, and threw it into the sea.

"We'll leave this," he said, "until we are beached. You gave me a 脅す, ジーンズ."

"I'm dreadfully sorry. Come here, and sit by me."

She moved to 許す him room, and he sat 負かす／撃墜する by her, taking the wheel from her 手渡す.

On the horizon the high lands of northern Africa were showing their saw-辛勝する／優位 輪郭（を描く）s.

"That is Morocco," he pointed out to her. "I 提案する giving Gibraltar a wide 寝台／地位, and に引き続いて the coast line to Tangier."

"Tangier wouldn't be a bad place to land if there weren't two of us," he went on. "It is our 存在 together in this ヨット that is likely to 原因（となる） 疑惑. You could easily pretend that you'd come over from Gibraltar, and the port 当局 there are pretty slack."

"Or if we could land on the coast," he 示唆するd. "There's a good 上陸, and we could follow the beach 負かす／撃墜する, and turn up in Tangier in the morning—all sorts of oddments turn up in Tangier without exciting 疑惑."

She was looking out over the sea with a queer 表現 in her 直面する.

"Morocco!" she said softly. "Morocco—I hadn't thought of that!"

They had a fright soon after. A grey 形態／調整 （機の）カム racing out of the darkening east, and Stepney put his 舵輪／支配 over as the 破壊者 粉砕するd past on her way to Gibraltar.

He watched the 厳しい light disappearing, then it suddenly turned and 現在のd its 味方する to them.

"They're looking for us," said Marcus.

The 不明瞭 had come 負かす／撃墜する, and he 長，率いるd straight for the east.

There was no question that the 破壊者 was on an errand of 発見. A white beam of light 発射 out from her decks, and began to feel along the sea. And then when they thought it had 行方不明になるd them, it dropped on the boat and held. A second later it 行方不明になるd them and began a search. Presently it lit the little boat, and it did something more —it 明らかにする／漏らすd a thickening of the atmosphere. They were running into a sea 霧, one of those thin white 霧s that come 負かす／撃墜する in the Mediterranean on windless days. The blinding glare of the サーチライト blurred.

"Bang!"

"That's the gun to signal us to stop," said Marcus between his teeth.

He turned the nose of the boat southward, a 危険な 訴訟／進行, for he ran into （疑いを）晴らす water, and had only just got 支援する into the 避難所 of the providential 霧 bank when the white beam （機の）カム stealthily along the 辛勝する／優位 of the もや. Presently it died out, and they saw it no more.

"They're looking for us," said Marcus again.

"You said that before," said the girl calmly.

"They've probably 警告するd them at Tangier. We dare not take the boat into the bay," said Stepney, whose 神経s were now on 辛勝する／優位.

He turned again 西方の, 辛勝する／優位ing toward the rocky coast of northern Africa. They saw little clusters of lights on the shore, and he tried to remember what towns they were.

"I think that big one is Cutra, the Spanish 罪人／有罪を宣告する 駅／配置する," he said.

He slowed 負かす／撃墜する the boat, and they felt their way gingerly along the coast line, until the flick and flash of a lighthouse gave them an idea of their position.

"Cape Spartel," he identified the light. "We can land very soon. I was in Morocco for three months, and if I remember rightly the beach is good walking as far as Tangier."

She went into the cabin and changed, and as the nose of the ジャングル Queen slid gently up the sandy beach she was ready.

He carried her 岸に, and 始める，決める her 負かす／撃墜する, then he 押し進めるd off the nose of the boat, and manoeuvred it so that the 厳しい was against the beach, 残り／休憩（する）ing in three feet of water. He jumped on board, 攻撃するd the 舵輪／支配, and started the engines going, then wading 支援する to the shore he stood 星／主役にするing into the gloom as the little ジャングル Queen put out to sea.

"That's that," he said grimly. "Now my dear, we've got a ten mile walk before us."

But he had made a slight miscalculation. The distance between himself and Tangier was twenty-five miles, and 伴う／関わるd several detours inland into country which was wholly uninhabited, save at that moment it held the （軍の）野営地，陣営 of Muley Hafiz, who was engaged in 交渉 with the Spanish 政府 for one of those "永久の peaces" which frequently last for years.

Muley Hafiz sat drinking his coffee at midnight, listening to the 緊張するs of an ornate gramophone, which stood in a corner of his square テント.

A 発言する／表明する outside the silken 倍の of his テント 迎える／歓迎するd him, and he stopped the machine.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Lord, we have 逮捕（する）d a man and a woman walking along by the sea."

"They are Riffi people—let them go," said Muley in Arabic. "We are making peace, my man, not war."

"Lord, these are infidels; I think they are English."

Muley Hafiz 新たな展開d his 削減する little 耐えるd.

"Bring them," he said.

So they were brought to his presence, a dishevelled man and a girl at the sight of whose 直面する, he gasped.

"My little friend of the Riviera," he said wonderingly, and the smile she gave him was like a ray of 日光 to his heart.

He stood up, a magnificent 人物／姿／数字 of a man, and she 注目する，もくろむd him admiringly.

"I am sorry if my men have 脅すd you," he said. "You have nothing to 恐れる, madame. I will send my 兵士s to 護衛する you to Tangier."

And then he frowned. "Where did you come from?"

She could not 嘘（をつく） under the 安定した ちらりと見ること of those liquid 注目する，もくろむs.

"We landed on the shore from a boat. We lost our way," she said.

He nodded.

"You must be she they are 捜し出すing," he said. "One of my 秘かに調査するs （機の）カム to me from Tangier to-night, and told me that the Spanish and the French police were waiting to 逮捕（する） a lady who had committed some 罪，犯罪 in フラン. I cannot believe it is you—or if it is, then I should say the 罪，犯罪 was pardonable."

He ちらりと見ることd at Marcus.

"Or perhaps," he said slowly, "it is your companion they 願望（する）."

ジーンズ shook her 長，率いる.

"No, they do not want him," she said, "it is I they want."

He pointed to a cushion.

"Sit 負かす／撃墜する," he said, and followed her example.

Marcus alone remained standing, wondering how this strange 状況／情勢 would develop.

"What will you do? If you go into Tangier I 恐れる I could not 保護する you, but there is a city in the hills," he waved his 手渡す, "many miles from here, a city where the hills are green, mademoiselle, and where beautiful springs 噴出する out of the ground, and there I am lord."

She drew a long breath.

"I will go to the city of the hills," she said softly, "and this man," she shrugged her shoulders, "I do not care what happens to him," she said, with a smile of amusement at the pallid Marcus.

"Then he shall go to Tangier alone."

But Marcus Stepney did not go alone. For the last two miles of the 旅行 he had carried a 捕らえる、獲得する 含む／封じ込めるing the greater part of five million フランs that the girl had brought from the boat. ジーンズ did not remember this until she was on her way to the city of the hills, and by that time money did not 利益／興味 her.

THE END

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