“H’m,” murmured Lord Flanborough, a little taken back, “very creditable.” Moya turned to Michael indignantly. “I suppose that you think you are rendering a great service to the world in trying to drag this poor girl down to the gutter, in exposing her to her employers and in obtaining her dismissal from honest employment.” “I do,” said Michael shamelessly. “I think it is a barbarous thing to do!” said Moya angrily. She had not yet decided in her own mind as to what steps she would take in face of this revelation. In view of her own character, it is possible that “Miss Tenby” would have a very short shift at her hands. But for the moment the opportunity for the display of benevolence and Christian charity was not to be passed over. She saw the girl’s appealing eyes and clasped hands and, for a moment, she felt a sincere thrill of pity for a brave sister struggling to escape the octopus tentacles of law and crime; for a moment she felt a genuinely unselfish desire to help another. If she expected Inspector the Hon. Michael Pretherston--for such was his incongruous title--to wilt under her reproaches, she was disappointed. Michael had not taken his eyes from the secretary, nor had the twinkle in those eyes abated. He nodded to “Miss Tenby.” “Kate,” he said, “you are really a wonder, and to think that you have never yet come into the clutches of the law until now.” “Until now,” said the girl quickly, raising her voice. He nodded. “The Prevention of Crimes Act,” murmured Michael. “I _can_ take you,”--he emphasized the “can”--“on a charge of obtaining employment with forged letters of recommendation, also with being a Suspected Person.” The girl dropped her attitude of humility, threw back her head and laughed, showing her even white teeth. “Oh, you Mike!” she railed him. “Oh, you busy fellow!” Her amusement did not last long for instantly her face was set again and the grey eyes blazed with rage. “One of these days you will be too clever,” she said bitterly. “I have seen better men than you and cleverer men than you go out, Michael Pretherston. You and your Prevention of Crimes Act! You can’t put that bluff over me. The Act does not come into operation until you have a conviction against my name, and that you will never get, you brute!” “Kate, Kate!” murmured Michael. “There’s a lady present.” She nodded. “I guess I’ll get my kit together,” she said; “it hasn’t been exactly a holiday trip.” “My sympathies are entirely with you,” said Michael; “it must have been awfully dull after the gay orgies of Crime Street.” “There is one thing I have always wanted to know,” said the girl, pinching her lip thoughtfully. She walked to the desk, and Lord Flanborough was too much taken back to arrest her progress. Without a word she opened the silver box on the table and took out a cigarette. “I have always wanted to know what kind of dope this dear old gentleman smoked.”