'I'm sure I don't know. I haven't seen him all the evening,' replied
Miss Twexby, tossing her head, 'now, go away. You're a naughty,
wicked, deceitful thing. I declare I'm quite afraid of you.'

'There's no need, I assure you,' replied Vandeloup, in a slightly
sarcastic voice, as he surveyed the plain-looking woman before him;
'you are quite safe from me.'

He left the bar, whistling an air, while the fair Martha returned to
her accounts, and wondered indignantly whether his last remark was a
compliment or otherwise.

The conclusion she came to was that it was otherwise, and she
retired to bed in a very wrathful frame of mind.




CHAPTER XIV

A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE


Madame Midas, as may be easily guessed, did not pass a very pleasant
night after the encounter with Villiers. Her head was very painful
with the blow he had given her, and added to this she was certain
she had killed him.

Though she hated the man who had ruined her life, and who had tried