“You will be as surprised as I was, I expect,” he said as soon as his client was seated. “Our friend Miss Makris, alias Mayhew, alias Glenthorne, has left Ashstead Mansions. She has taken one of the smaller houses in Curzon Street, has furnished it splendidly in a few days, and is living there under the name of Mrs. Edwards with her husband, the good-looking fellow who was over in Paris when she was playing her game with poor old Calliard. The mother is not with them. I should say they are after something very big this time.” And as Grewgus spoke, there flashed across the young man’s mind what Jasper Stormont had told him a little while ago. His brother was looking forward to a great _coup_ which might enable him to give up business altogether. Was the owner of Effington at the back of this sudden metamorphosis of the “clever Zillah” into Mrs. Edwards, the tenant of the house in Curzon Street? CHAPTER FIFTEEN About a fortnight later, Lydon had the news confirmed from another quarter. Gloria received a letter from her uncle, in which was the following paragraph: “I have got some news for you. Zillah Mayhew is married to a very charming young man, named Edwards. She has been a very sly little puss about it all. It appears from a somewhat belated confession to her uncle, my dear old friend John Whitehouse, they have known each other for some four or five years. They met again during her recent visit to Paris and were married there. Edwards is a man possessed of considerable means and moves in good society. They kept the marriage secret for a little time on account of family reasons connected with the husband. I am very glad that Zillah has done so well.” The letter then proceeded to state other things, some of which Lydon, to whom his sweetheart read the epistle, had already heard from Grewgus. The married couple had taken and furnished a house in Curzon Street, where Zillah proposed to entertain. Zillah had led a retired life when in England, did not know many people. But her husband had heaps of friends and acquaintances, and would soon fill the house. They proposed to give a big reception shortly. Stormont and his sister would attend it. And Zillah insisted that Gloria, her father and mother, and her fiancé should be her guests on such a special occasion. Innocent Gloria read out all this to her fiancé, and the young man made certain inward comments as she went along. It was very unlikely the couple had been married on Zillah’s last visit to Paris. Grewgus had been watching the woman, Simmons the man till the eve of their disappearance. If there had been any marriage ceremony, they would have known of it. If they were husband and wife, they had been married long ere now, and had lived apart, the better to pursue their nefarious ends.