"True, Mrs. Braybourne; but how is it that you have instructed your solicitors here to press a claim of which you now declare you had no knowledge?" For a second Lilla was cornered; but her quick woman’s wit came to her aid, and smiling quite calmly, she said: "Well, to tell you the truth, a solicitor of Mrs. Morrison in London wrote me quite recently, explaining in strict confidence the position and the efforts your client had made to make reparation for her husband’s swindling. All I know is that Mr. Morrison’s business morality left a great deal to be desired, and we came very near ruin. Indeed, we should have been ruined, had it not been for assistance I received from my father." "In what way?" asked the keen young lawyer. "Well—I think I need not go into such details," said the clever woman with whom he was confronted. "Your client, no doubt, admitted to you her husband’s double-dealing and how he very nearly ruined us. It was because of that Mrs. Morrison of Carsphairn insured her life in my favour." Young Mr. Emery nodded, but his lips curled in a smile of incredulity. He paused for several moments, his gaze fixed upon the woman. "Well," he said at last, "I have been at the head office of the company to-day, after I found that your legal adviser was absent, and—well, to tell you the truth, they are not altogether satisfied." "Who?" asked Lilla, in surprise. "The insurance company." "Why?" Again Mr. Emery paused, again he fixed his eyes upon the woman before him. He slowly rose from his chair and walked to the fireplace, whereupon he drew himself up. Placing his hands in his trousers pockets, he said, in a changed voice: "Mrs. Braybourne, just because I have interested myself, rather unduly perhaps, in the affairs of my late client, Mrs. Morrison, I find myself confronted by several problems. I want you to assist me to solve at least one of them." "And what is that?" asked Lilla, quite calmly. "Simply this," he said, fixing his dark eyes upon her. "I want you to explain the fact why, as I came along the street, I should see, standing here in your window, my late client, Mrs. Augusta Morrison?" *CHAPTER XXIX* *ON THIN ICE* Lilla drew herself up, and looked her unwelcome interrogator full in the face with unwavering gaze. "Mrs. Morrison?" she echoed. "What do you mean?" "I mean, madam, that as I approached this house Mrs. Morrison was looking out of the window." Lilla laughed. Though greatly perturbed, she had been forewarned, and preserved an outward calm. "Really, Mr. Emery," she laughed, "you must be mistaken. I have not the pleasure of knowing Mrs. Morrison. I only knew her husband, who came to see us several times when we lived in Kensington. His wife lived in Scotland, but I was never acquainted with her." "Do you mean to insist that you have never seen her?" "Never in my life—to my knowledge," was the frank reply.