“If you do not act, I shall act myself,” she told him finally. The young man listened attentively, and hope and resolution began to stir in him. He had been so stunned by the damning nature of the evidence against him, by the stern attitude of his once benevolent protector, that he had been crushed almost into insensibility, into a benumbing of his faculties. But, as the girl spoke in her bright, incisive way, the clouds about his brain seemed to melt. He seemed to see himself rehabilitated, able to prove to those whom it concerned that he was the honest man they had always believed him to be. “The question is how to go to work,” he said gravely. “Mr. Morrice is right when he says that to call in Scotland Yard might lead to disastrous consequences. But we could employ a private detective to probe the mystery to the bottom. Even if he could not lay his hands on the actual thief, he might be able to prove my innocence.” Rosabelle caught eagerly at the idea. “And where can we find the sort of man we want?” “One of the cleverest is Gideon Lane; his office is in Shaftesbury Avenue. I know him a little, and Mr. Morrice knows him too. We employed him to watch a suspected clerk in our office, and he trapped him very cleverly.” “Would it cost much to employ him?” asked the girl anxiously. She knew that Richard’s capital, like her own, was very small, and it was hardly likely that Morrice would spend any money on a case he had already pre-judged. It was not possible for her to help, for her uncle was her trustee and not likely to allow her to adventure a penny in such a cause. But Croxton’s small amount of capital was entirely under his own control, and now that he was recovering from his despairing mood, he was fired with the desire to establish his innocence, and had no hesitation in employing some of it for the purpose. After a great deal of discussion as to the initial steps to be taken, it was decided that Rosabelle should visit the detective, tell him the whole facts, and commission him to undertake the investigation on her own behalf. Richard would give her a brief letter of introduction to Gideon Lane, and furnish her with money to pay a preliminary fee. The enthusiastic girl did not allow the grass to grow under her feet. Two days later she was seated in the waiting-room of the small suite of offices in Shaftesbury Avenue. She had sent in her letter of introduction and was waiting to be summoned to the presence of the well-known detective who was, fortunately for her impatience, disengaged. He was not many seconds reading the letter, but it seemed hours before the restless Rosabelle saw the inner door open, and was asked by a smart young typist to step in.