"Which wont be for a good while judging from her present condition," said Lawrence, "but now to business, what about this office, it is a difficult matter to carry it on without Mr. Sheene." "As far as I can see, it must be kept on till Miss Winston's recovery" replied Mr. Spriggs "if no more news is heard of Mr. Sheene till then well Miss Winston can come and procure her money and various other papers which will of course be hers and then this place can be sold." "Yes" said Lord Beaufort and I suppose Mr. Netherby will be the head man till then. "Well yes" replied Mr. Spriggs "he must certainly be here to look after the place, and of course I shall look in occasionally to see all goes well; another young man can be got to be under Mr. Netherby as Mr. Wilson has gone to prison for attempted robbery; do you agree to that Mr. Netherby?" "Oh yes sir" eagerly replied the clerk, who would not have disagreed for the world. "And if it comes to the place being sold" added Lord Beaufort "you can come to me Mr. Netherby, I may have arranged something by then" "Thank you very much sir" replied Netherby and after a few more matters had been arranged the three men left the office leaving Netherby in charge. By the time Lord Beaufort and Lawrence got back home, a doctor had seen Helen. He said that when she recovered her senses, perfect rest and quiet would be all she needed, her brain being in a dazed condition. She would not be able to leave her bed for some time probably though nothing serious was the matter. Helen remained unconscious all night and next day she was very delirious but towards 4 o'clock she dropped asleep and woke up about seven o'clock, her right senses returned to her, but still in a weak condition. CHAPTER 28 THE PROPOSAL It was not untill the evening after Helen's recovery that Lawrence and Lord Beaufort had an oppertunity of conversing together. Mulberry Beaufort was seated in his luxurious study partaking of some Burgundy wine and reading a detective story, when the door opened and Lawrence, entered, tired after a long day in the city. "Well Mulberry" he said throwing himself down in an arm chair and lighting a cigar, "no news of Sheene in the Star I suppose?" "Not a word" replied Mulberry, "it is a most misterious affair altogether." "Yes the odd part of it is that Palsey has made off too" answered Lawrence. "You dont mean that!" cried Mulberry. "Yes I do" said Lawrence, "it appears the villain got off while I was away; you know I locked him in the drawing room and as the landlady had the key he would not have made his exit in that way. "No" replied Mulberry "he certainly could not but you forget the window."