The voice was hard and metallic. There was neither cordiality nor welcome in it, nor did Leslie expect any such demonstration. She mounted the stairs, but before she could reach the landing Lady Raytham had turned and preceded her into the drawing room. As she went in, she saw that her unwilling hostess was not alone. Before the fire stood a figure which was not wholly unfamiliar--a square, tall, Eton-cropped figure with a monocle, which fixed her with a keen and penetrating glance. The contrast between the two women was startling. Lady Raytham had never looked more lovely, more fragile, Leslie thought, than she did at that moment. She also was going out to dinner, and she wore a dress of old gold, and about her neck a magnificent chain of emeralds that terminated in a square emerald pendant which must have been worth a fortune. Anita Bellini was in scarlet, a hard, shrieking scarlet that no other woman could have worn. And yet, for some remarkable reason, it suited her. The _godet_ was of silver lace, decorated by big green and red stones and the thick jade bracelets and ruby necklet gave her an air of barbaric splendour. “I am sorry you came, Miss Maughan; it is doubly unfortunate. If Druze had been normal, I should have sent you away without seeing you. As it is, I feel that at least an apology is due to you for the disgraceful condition of my servant.” Leslie inclined her head slightly. What she had to say could not be told before this big, steely-eyed woman who stood with her back to the fire, the inevitable cigarette between her lips, the shining eyeglass fixed upon the visitor. “I wanted to see you alone if I could, Lady Raytham.” Jane Raytham shook her head. “There is nothing you can tell me that I should not wish Princess Bellini to hear,” she said. Without turning her head, Anita flicked her cigarette ash into the fireplace. “Perhaps Miss Maughan doesn’t wish to speak before a witness,” she said, in her hard, deep voice. “If I were Lady Raytham I should have reported you last night to your superiors and had you kicked out of Scotland Yard!” Leslie smiled faintly. “If you were Lady Raytham, there are so many things you would do, Princess,” she said, “and there would be so many things that it would be quite unnecessary for you to do!” Anita’s eyes did not waver. “Such as----” she suggested. If she expected to frighten the younger woman she must have been disappointed. Leslie’s lips were curved in a fixed smile. “We have now come to the point,” she said good-humouredly, “where I should not like to speak before witnesses, either--though some day I may speak before more witnesses than you can crowd into a room twice this size; as many, Princess, as can squeeze themselves into Court No. 1 at the Old Bailey.”