“Well, imagine I am,” smiled Diana. “She gets to know him very well?” Mr. Superbus nodded. “I should say so! She starts a hand-holding friendship, if I might describe it.” “But surely not always?” interrupted Bobbie. “She didn’t catch old Mendlesohn that way? He must be sixty-five!” Mr. Superbus was amused. “Sixty-five! Why, of course she did! The sixty-fivers are the worst. They’re easy. Mind you, there’s nothing more than a high-class friendship in it, if I may use the word. The people she likes to get hold of are the thinkers--she’s got a classy line of language. You know the sort of stuff that highbrows talk.” “A soul, in fact?” smiled Diana. “Does she represent herself as being married?” He nodded. “Yes, there’s always a husband in the background. Sometimes he lives abroad, sometimes he’s in a lunatic asylum, but he’s mostly out of the way.” Bobbie staggered and caught hold of a chair for support. Happily, Diana did not notice his wan excitement. “And then what happens?” she asked, a little nervous as to whether Mr. Superbus was still confounding “miss” with “ma’am.” “Well, she lures him away,” said Mr. Superbus. “There’s no other word for it. She _lures_ him away. And whilst they’re away, up comes Double Dan with all the dear departed’s little tricks--his voice, his funny little ways, which the girl has been studying and passing on to Dan. You understand, miss? I’ve collected all this information myself. It’s a coop with me. ‘Coop’ is French for ‘cop.’” “And the girl?” asked Diana. “Oh, she gets away too--pretends her husband’s come back unexpectedly from foreign parts; but she does it so that the fellow can’t return home. Usually he’s told people that he’s going away for a fortnight or so, and naturally, he doesn’t want to come back.” “How perfectly disgusting!” said Diana with a wry face. “That’s what I say,” said Mr. Superbus earnestly. “Having allowed a gentleman to go so far----” “At any rate, we need not have any fear about Mr. Selsbury,” said Diana with a quiet smile. Evidently Mr. Superbus _had_ fears about Mr. Selsbury. He looked around in his mysterious way, and then: “He’s gone out of town, hasn’t he?” Diana nodded. “For any length of time?” “For a week,” said Diana. Superbus rubbed his chin. “It’s rather a delicate matter, but I am a family man, ma’am--miss. Has he gone away on business--no chance of a----?” “Of a what?” “Of a lure?” Diana laughed softly. “Absolutely no chance.” Diana was thinking quickly. “What sort of a woman would this be--his confederate, I mean--pretty?” “Handsome is as handsome does,” replied Julius. “Are you going, Bobbie?” Bobbie was following the detective from the room. “Yes, I’ve got to see a man,” he said a little incoherently. There was still time to catch Gordon, and he was resolved to take the risk. With Bobbie out of the way, the girl rang the bell, and, when Eleanor came, she found her mistress at the writing-table, blotting an envelope.