the adventurer, as he dropped into a cool, Japanese chair.

"My man will bring you the news of her coming!" answerd the oily
old miscreant. "I told him to watch her, and run on to warn me!"
Ram Lal was a wily old Figaro of much experience.

"Good! Then go outside and wait for her," coolly commanded the young
man. "When she comes, you can come in and warn me, and I will be
ready." Ram Lal obediently left Hawke without a questioning word,
and the busy brain of the adventurer was soon occupied with weaving
the meshes for the bird nearing the snare. "This woman's help is
absolutely necessary to me now!" he thought, as he contemplated his
own handsome person in a mirror. "If she can only hold her tongue
and keep a secret, she may be the foundation of my fortunes. I
think that I can make it worth her while, but she must never fall
under the influence of this she-devil in petticoats, who comes
to-morrow night! And yet, the Louison knows she is here! A friendship
between them must be prevented!" He closed his eyes dreamily, and
studied the problem of the future attentively, revolving every point
of womanly weakness which he had observed in his past experience.

He had finally hit upon the right thing. It came to him just as Ram
Lal entered, with his finger on his lip. "She is in there, waiting
for you, and she came alone!" said the crafty merchant. "I can
perhaps frighten her with the idea that Madame Louison wishes to
supplant her as lady bear leader. The future pickings of this young
heiress would be then lost to her! Yes! A woman's natural jealousy
will do the trick!" so sagely mused the young man as he walked out
into the hall, where Ram Lal's treasures were heaped up on every
side. There was no one visible in the shop, but Ram Lal silently