to-night? The White Moll, he had said; but what did he want with
the White Moll?

He answered her unspoken question now, almost as though he had read
her thoughts.

"She is very clever," he said quietly. "She must be exceedingly
clever to have beaten the police the way she has for the last few
years; and - er - I worship at the shrine of cleverness - especially
if it be a woman's. The idea struck me last night that if she and
I should - er - pool our resources, we should not have to complain
of the reward."

"Oh, so youse wants to work wid her, eh?" sniffed Rhoda Gray. "So
dat's it, is it?"

"Partially," he said. "But, quite apart from that, the reason I
want to find her is because she is in very great danger. Clever
as she is, it is a very different matter to-day now that the police
have found her out. She has been forced into hiding, and, if alone
and without any friend to help her, her situation, to put it mildly,
must be desperate in the extreme. You befriended her last night,
and I honor you for the unselfishness with which you laid yourself
open to the future attentions of that animal Rorke, but that very
fact has deprived her of what might otherwise have been a refuge and
a quite secure retreat here with you. I do not wish to intrude, or
force myself upon her, but I believe I could be of very material
help, and so I have come to you, as I have said, because you are the
only source through which I can hope to find her, and because,
through your act of last night, I know you to be a trustworthy, and,