Anne looked at him very pleasantly. Her eyes were good to meet. She was evidently not offended. Dear me! Mysterious creatures, women! It struck him, not for the first time, that Anne was an exception to the whole of her sex. "Isn't she beautiful!" said the exception warmly. "But I am afraid she is not quite as wise as she is beautiful. She is in a great difficulty." "What about?" "It seems she burned something when she was alone in the flat. At least she is accused by Mr Brand of burning something. A very valuable paper--an I O U for a large sum which her brother owed Mr Brand, and which became due a month ago--is missing." "She did burn something," said Stephen. "I was on the floor above at the time, and smelt smoke, and came down, and De Rivaz told me it was nothing; only the divinity burning some papers. He was alarmed, and left his sketch to find where the smoke came from. He saw her burn them." "He said that to you," said Anne, "but to no one else. I talked over the matter with him last night, and directly he heard Miss Black was in trouble, he assured me that he had thoughtlessly burnt a sheet of drawing-paper himself. That was what caused the smoke. And he said he would tell Mr Brand so." "H'm! Brand is not made up of credulity." "No. He seems convinced Miss Black destroyed that paper." "And does she deny it?" "Of course." "She can't deny that she burned something." "Yes, she does. She sticks to it that she burned nothing." "Then she must be a fool, because three of us know she did. De Rivaz knows it, I know it, and I see you know it." "And it turns out the lift man knows it; at least he was reprimanded for being on the upper floors without leave, and he said he only went there because there was a smoke, and he was anxious; and the smoke came from the Brands' sitting-room, which Miss Black left as he came up. He told Mr Brand this, who put what he thought was two and two together. Fred Black, it seems, would have been ruined if Mr Brand had enforced payment, and he believes Miss Black got hold of the paper at her brother's instigation and destroyed it." "Well! I suppose she did," said Stephen. "If you knew her you would know that that is impossible." Stephen looked incredulous. "I've known a good many unlikely things happen about money," he said slowly. "I daresay she did it to save her brother." "She did not do it," said Anne. "If she didn't, why doesn't she say what she did burn, and why? What's the use of sticking to it that she burned nothing when Brand knows that's a lie? A lie is a deadly stupid thing unless it's uncommonly well done." "She has had very little practice in lying. I fancy this is her first." "The only possible course left for her to take is to admit that she burned something, and to say what it was. Why doesn't she see that?"