"Everything going well?" asked the smartly dressed man, whose pose in Hammersmith was so entirely different. He spoke in an eager tone. "Yes, as far as I can see it’s all plain sailing. I’m doing my part, and leave you and Lilla to do the rest. I’ve met here a very nice young fellow—as I intended—a useful solicitor named Emery, of Manchester. He is carrying the matter through for me. He’s agent of the Universal." "A first-class office." "Well, I’m insuring with them in Lilla’s favour." "Have you carried out the plan we discussed?" "To the very letter! Trust me, my dear Bernie." "I always do, Ena," he declared, gazing across the moonlit sea. They were alone on the seat, and there was none to overhear: "Ten thousand is a decent sum. Let’s hope it will be all over soon. I sometimes have bad quarters of an hour—when I think!" he remarked. "The sums assured have been higher and higher," she said. "We started with five hundred—you recollect the woman Bayliss?—and now we are always in thousands. Only you, Bernard, know how the game should be played. I do my part, but it is your brain which evolves all this business for which the companies are so eager, and which is so wonderful." "True, our plan works well," Boyne admitted, still gazing over the sea. "We’ve all of us made thousands out of it—haven’t we?" "Yes. I can see no loophole by which the truth might leak out—save one," she said very seriously. "And what’s that?"’ "Your visits to your wife," was her reply. "Suppose somebody watched you, and saw you leave your frowsy little house in Hammersmith, go to Lilla in Pont Street, and blossom forth into a gentleman of means; it would certainly arouse a nasty suspicion. Therefore you should always be most careful." "I am. Never fear," he said. "Recollect, nobody in Hammersmith knows that Lilla Braybourne is my wife." "They don’t know. But they might suspect things, which may lead eventually to an awkward inquiry, and then——?" "Oh! my dear Ena, don’t contemplate unpleasant things!" he urged, with a shrug of the shoulders. "I know you are a clever woman—more clever by far than Lilla herself—therefore I always rely upon your discretion and foresight. Now, tell me—what has happened up to date?" In reply she told him briefly of her meeting with the young solicitor Emery—which she had prearranged, by the way—and how she had entertained the newly-married pair. "They, of course, believe you to be Mrs. Augusta Morrison, of Carsphairn, widow of old Joe Morrison, the great shipbuilder of Govan?" he remarked, smiling. "Exactly. As you know, I paid a visit in secret to Carsphairn six weeks ago, and found out quite a lot. This I retailed to the Emerys, and they took it all in. I described Carsphairn to them, and showed them the snapshots of the place which I took surreptitiously when I was up there. Indeed, I gave a couple of them to Mrs. Emery—to make evidence." "Excellent!" he exclaimed. "You never leave anything undone, Ena."