“There is proof that she blackmailed a government official of Java, and there is the record of a complaint made to the English police in ’89 when she returned to this country, from the wife of one of her victims. And she did not stop at blackmail. Martha--who, to save her own skin, has betrayed everybody--says that she had forged three bills of exchange to her knowledge. It is established that it was Anita who forged Lord Everreed’s signature, and, taking advantage of Peter being out of the way, got Druze to cash the check, the proceeds of which were divided between the two sisters. Whether she did this out of sheer wickedness and with Martha’s knowledge in order to ruin Peter, or whether she was in low water, I cannot discover. Martha suggests the latter reason and swears that she knew nothing about the forgery until later. I have my own opinion. “Anita was distantly acquainted with Jane before Peter knew her, but she did not become interested in her until after her marriage and return to England. The arrest of Peter coincided with Anita’s learning that Lord Raytham, a very rich man, was anxious to marry Jane, who in some mysterious fashion had disappeared. Anita guessed the cause and went in search of and found her. She learned of Jane’s condition and kept by her, her object being to persuade her to marry Raytham, so that she might profitably exploit the new Lady Raytham. She tried to persuade Jane that her marriage wasn’t legal, hoping that the girl in her desperation would commit bigamy and be under her thumb for the rest of her life. But Jane made one desperate attempt to free herself from the marriage. She went to Reno, applied for a divorce, and that divorce was granted.” “Granted?” Jane’s voice was shrill, almost a scream. “It was not granted, Leslie; it was refused!” “It was granted. Your decree was made absolute. I have a cablegram from the clerk of the court to that effect; it arrived last night. Naturally, Anita did her best to prevent the divorce, because, if it were given, she had practically no hold except the child, which was subsequently taken away by her sister and handed to Mrs. Inglethorne, who for four years was in Martha’s employment. When she found she couldn’t stop the divorce, she induced Jane to go out of court while the judge was giving his decision. Her car was waiting at the door of the court, and Jane was sitting in it, waiting for the verdict. It was not until Anita came out of court and joined her in the car that Jane learned that the divorce had been refused. She married Raytham, believing that she was a bigamist, and yet finding poor sort of comfort in the belief that there had been some sort of irregularity in her marriage which made it invalid. “For seven years Jane Raytham has been paying toll to the blackmailer, supposedly the man who had charge of the child, in reality to Anita Bellini and her sister.