“I cannot understand how you got yourself into this terrible position,” he said. “A girl who has evidently had the education of a lady, you have been charged with a theft of a few pounds, for although the article you stole was worth a large sum, that was all that your dishonesty realised. Your act was probably due to some great temptation. I suppose the need for the money was very urgent; yet that does not excuse your act. I shall bind you over to come up for judgment when called upon, treating you as a first offender, and I do most earnestly appeal to you to live honestly and avoid a repetition of this unpleasant experience.” The girl bowed slightly and left the box for the police office, and the next case was called. Harvey Froyant rose at the same time and made his way out of the court. He was a rich man to whom money represented the goal and object of life. He was the type of man who counted the contents of his pocket every night before he went to bed, and he would have had his own mother arrested in similar circumstances. Thalia Drummond’s offence was made more heinous in his eyes because her last act of service had been to hand to him the warning of the Crimson Circle, from the shock of which he had not yet recovered. He was a large, thin man with a permanent stoop. His attitude towards the world was one of acute suspicion; for the moment it was one of resentment, for he held the strongest views on the sacredness of property. To Parr, who followed him out of the court, he expressed his disappointment that the girl had not been sent to prison. “A woman like that is a danger to society,” he complained in his high-pitched, peevish voice. “How do I know that she isn’t in league with these blackguards who are threatening me? Forty thousand they ask for! Forty thousand!” He wailed the last words. “It is your duty to see that I come to no harm! Understand that--it is your duty!” “I heard you!” said Inspector Parr wearily. “And as to the girl, I don’t suppose she ever heard of the Crimson Circle. She’s very young.” “Young!” snarled the lean man. “That’s the time to punish them, isn’t it? Catch them young and punish them young, and you may turn them into respectable citizens!” “I dare say you’re right,” agreed the stout Mr. Parr with a sigh, and then inconsequently, “Children are a great responsibility.” Froyant muttered something under his breath, and without so much as a nod of farewell, walked rapidly through the court, into the motor-car which was waiting for him at the entrance to the court-house. The inspector watched him depart with a slow smile, and, looking round, caught the eye of a young man who was waiting by the clerk’s door. “Good morning, Mr. Beardmore,” he said. “Are you waiting to see the young lady?” “Yes. How long will they keep her?” asked Jack nervously. Mr. Parr gazed at him with expressionless eyes, and sniffed.