In disjointed sentences, the dreadful story came out; it was evident that this young man Granger did not relish his task and had only undertaken it out of loyalty to his friend and compassion for his wife. Graham Darcy, the elegant-mannered, immaculately dressed young man who threw money about like water, who lived at the most expensive hotels and posed as a man of fortune, was in reality a member, a prominent member, of a gang of high-class “crooks,” who preyed upon society, carrying out their nefarious schemes here and on the Continent. Darcy was his real name, professionally he was known by several aliases. The police had tracked him down, and two days ago he had been arrested in Edinburgh on a charge of forgery. Funds would be at his disposal for the purpose of obtaining the most skilful counsel for his defence, but Granger was very hopeless as to the result. The evidence was too strong, conviction was almost a certainty. The sentence he was likely to receive depended upon the attitude of the judge: it might be anything from five to ten years’ penal servitude. Granger himself admitted that he was a member of the same confederacy, but not involved in this particular transaction, and therefore for the moment had nothing to fear. Having delivered himself of these terrible tidings, he proceeded to give what he hoped would bring considerable comfort to the crushed and broken-hearted young woman. Darcy had been a prudent fellow, he had not, like so many criminals, spent his ill-gotten gains as fast as he had acquired them. He had a very nice little nest-egg put by in case of accidents. This nest-egg, amounting to the sum of over five thousand pounds, was in the custody of Granger, who was prepared to hand it over to the unhappy woman and advise her as to the best means of investing it. Dishonest as they were to the rest of the world, these “crooks” were evidently capable of fair dealing with each other. As soon as she had recovered from the first effects of this stunning shock, Lettice sent for her faithful friend Alma Buckley, who had entertained grave suspicions for some time, without however anticipating such a tragic _dénouement_ as this. The situation, bad as it was in any circumstances, was further aggravated by the fact that the unfortunate young woman was an expectant mother; her baby, the child of a felon, would be born in about three months from then. The shrewd and resourceful Alma took a firm grasp of the situation, and mapped out her plans for the future. The miserable victim was at present too dazed to think, and left everything in the capable hands of her friend.