but it's dastardly and inhuman. 'Rumour also had it that he was none too
happy in his marriage, and that his Mrs. Clephane was something of the
same sort--she was of the type to make men's hearts flutter.' You see, I
recall her exact words. And what was I to do--"

"Just what you did do. You handled the matter beautifully."

"Thank you!" she smiled. "Yet she would win in the end--with almost any
other man than you. She plays for time; a very little time, possibly. I
don't know. I'm new in this business--and can't see far before me.
Indeed, I can't see at all; it's a maze of horrors. If I get out of this
mess alive, I'll promise never to get mixed in another."

"Why not quit right now, Mrs. Clephane?" Harleston suggested.

"I won't quit under fire--and with my mission unaccomplished. Moreover,
this Spencer gang have ruffled my temper--they have aroused my fighting
blood. I never realized I had fighting blood in me until tonight. Mrs.
Spencer's ugly insinuation, topping their attempted abduction of the
evening, has done it. I'm angry all through. Don't I look angry, Mr.
Harleston?"

"You're quite justified in looking so, dear lady; as well as in being
so," Harleston replied. "Only you don't look it now."

"You're a sad flatterer, sir!" she smiled. "Believe me, had you seen me
in the room to which they decoyed me with a false message from you, you
would believe that I can look it--very well look it."

"So that was the way of it!" Harleston exclaimed "Tell me about it, Mrs.