“I’d have recognised you if I hadn’t heard your fine, deep voice,” said the old man, blinking at her. “It’s Martha, my wife--you’ve met her, Mr. Shaddles?” “I thought you were dead!” she said again, and the pistol dropped from her nerveless hand. * * * * * * * “The point is,” said the disconsolate Selwyn. “I am in a perfectly painful position, old dear, I’m not Lord anybody; I suppose I’m a Moron of sorts. I’m what you might term a naughty Moron. I’m really not worried about the mater--she’s in the south of France, and she’s jolly lucky she’s not in a hotter place! She’s been a perfectly fearful mother to me, and I don’t suppose I shall ever see her again, and I don’t jolly well want to! She’ll probably live to ninety--she’s that kind of mother.” “Don’t be silly, Selwyn. Of course it makes all the difference!” said Lizzy. “If you’d asked me when you were a real lord and I was a typist--I’m a typist still, for the matter of that--I simply couldn’t have allowed you to ruin your career. As it is----” They were walking along a quiet by-path of the park when suddenly Lizzy caught him by the arm and swung him round. “Not that way,” she said. “Here’s a path through the rhododendrons. They’ll never think of coming round here, and there’s a perfectly beautiful seat--and at this time of the morning there’s nobody about. We can sit and talk----” Michael saw the hasty retreat and smiled to himself. “That’s the queerest aspect of the whole case.” “Do you think so?” asked Lois, Countess of Moron. “I know lots of things that are queerer. I had a bill this morning from Mr. Shaddles. He has charged me one pound six shillings for the damage you did to his Ford!” “He never has?” said the admiring Michael. “What a man! He must have spent ten thousand pounds on this case if he spent a penny. Most of which,” he added, “went to me.” “Do you feel repaid?” she asked. He nodded. “I shall when your ladyship has said ‘thank you.’” “Haven’t I said that yet?” she demanded in feigned surprise. “And please don’t say ‘ladyship’--you give me the creeps. Well, I’ll thank you, now--no, not now.” They paused at the end of a little path. “Let us go down here,” she said. “I think I remember there’s a shrubbery at the other end, and a garden seat, and it’s hardly likely that at this time of day…” THE END TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES The Hodder and Stoughton Limited (1926) edition was consulted for many of the changes listed below. Minor spelling inconsistencies (_e.g._ liftman/lift-man, prison-gate/prison gate, Whitcomb/Whitcombe, etc.) have been preserved. Alterations to the text: Abandon the use of drop-caps. Add ToC. [Chapter Seven] Change (“Even you must _given_ me some credit for my frankness.”) to _give_. [Chapter Thirteen] (“Lizzy came promptly at six, bringing with her a…) delete the quotation mark. [Chapter Eighteen] “periods of national rejoicing but here, in this shadowy place” add semicolon after _rejoicing_. [Chapter Twenty]