“Please do not let me excite false hopes, Miss Sheldon,” he hastened to say. “Remember, I have told you there are great difficulties in the way. Until we are on much firmer ground I would beg that you do not repeat my words to Mr. Croxton.” But she did not give any answer to this request, and he knew that for all practical purposes he might have held his peace. Of course, she would post off to her lover as soon as she could get away, and infect him with her own optimism. Well, he was loath to confide too much in the most hard-headed and sceptical man; he had only himself to blame for having been over-confidential with a member of the emotional sex. Later on in the day Rosabelle carried out his prediction; she made up her mind to pay a visit to Petersham, to hearten her lover with a recital of those words which she was convinced meant so much, coming from a man of Lane’s cautious temperament. Morrice had left the house shortly after the detective’s departure. The two women would have lunched alone together but for the unexpected arrival of young Archie Brookes, who was pressed to stay for the meal. Rosabelle was very sensitive to impressions, and, for so young a girl, particularly observant. It struck her that during the progress of the luncheon the young man seemed rather _distrait_ and preoccupied. Two or three times he answered at random, and once Mrs. Morrice called out to him sharply, “I don’t think you are listening to what I am saying, Archie.” At that rebuke he seemed to pull himself together, but the girl was sure his thoughts were far away from her aunt’s light chatter. Presently aunt and nephew, to call him what Rosabelle, ignorant of Lane’s discoveries, still believed him to be, went up to Mrs. Morrice’s boudoir. There was nothing unusual in this; it was a frequent custom when the young man called or lunched at the house. Rosabelle thought she would start for Petersham at once, making her journey there as usual in a taxi. She always had plenty of money for her needs, as Morrice supplemented her own little modest income of a hundred a year with a very generous allowance. As she went upstairs to her own room to make ready for her expedition, she passed her aunt’s boudoir, the door of which stood slightly ajar. It was a rather unusual circumstance, for when the two were closeted together Rosabelle had noticed that it was nearly always closed. This time it had evidently been forgotten by both. She was not a girl who in ordinary circumstances would have condescended to listen at doors, but she could not help hearing words that startled and puzzled her. Archie was speaking in a voice of great excitement and emotion. “But if I don’t have it I am ruined. It means that I cannot face the disgrace—there is only one alternative——” His voice had by now sunk almost to a whisper, and she could not catch what followed.