"Zoe," he said, "I am going to ask you a favor."

"Me a favor?" she repeated. "I think you know how happy it will
make me if there is anything - anything at all in the world that I
could do."

"A week ago," Laverick continued, "I was an honest but not very
successful stockbroker, with a natural longing for adventures which
never came my way. Since then things have altered. I have stumbled
in upon the most curious little chain of happenings which ever
became entwined with the life of a commonplace being like myself.
The net result, for the moment, is this. Every one is trying to
steal from me a certain document which I have in my pocket. I want
to hide it for the night. I cannot go to the police, it is too
late to go back to Chancery Lane, and I have an instinctive feeling
that my flat is absolutely at the mercy of my enemies. May I hide
my document in your room ? I do not believe for a moment that any
one would think of searching here."

"Of course you may," she answered. "But listen. Can you see out
into the street without moving very much?"

He turned his head. He had been standing with his back to the
window, and Zoe had been facing it.

"Yes, I can see into the street," he assented.

"Tell me - you see that taxi on the other side of the way?" she
asked.