His voice died down into a rumble of sound. Then! “Never mind. I don’t suppose--I say, don’t be alarmed or anything of that sort--I mean, don’t mention to the madam anything that seems remarkable, will you?” The girl shook her head in bewilderment. “I don’t know what you mean. Is there something I can get for you?” But he had evidently gone. Lizzy, who had a practical mind, suggested that the articles he required were false teeth. “He’s got that kind of delicate mind that wouldn’t mention them to a lady,” she said. But her companion did not accept that explanation. Lizzy, who was not affected by the stateliness of the surroundings, was asleep almost as soon as she had finished talking. But Lois Reddle had never been more wide awake in her life. She heard the clock strike the quarter and the half and the hour. She turned from side to side and counted sheep and furnished houses and followed all the prescriptions for sleeplessness which had ever been offered. But at half-past one she was alert and wakeful. She heard the whine of a car as it stopped in front of the house. That was Lady Moron returning, she guessed. The bed she occupied was a small four-poster. Perhaps it was this unusual factor which kept her awake. She stared up in the dark at the silken canopy above her head, wondering whether she would sleep more comfortably upon the big settee at the foot of the bed. The deep breathing which came from Lizzy’s bed irritated her unreasonably. She rose, touched the pillow, and turned over again, and then---- “_Did she know the photograph?_” She sat up with a jerk. It was the voice of Chesney Praye and had come from the canopy above her! It was as though somebody was lying on the top and speaking, for the words were clear and distinct. It was the voice of the countess who answered him. “No,” came the deep tones. “I put it in the drawer just before she arrived.” A pause, and then presently he spoke again. “You took a risk.” She heard the deep laughter of Lady Moron. “I’ve taken a greater one to-night, I think, Chesney.” “My dear Leonora,” Chesney’s voice was pained, “surely you can trust me?” “I have to,” the deliberate tone of her ladyship came down from the canopy, “and I think you will be wise not to play the fool. Selwyn is worrying me.” “Selwyn!” contemptuously. “Selwyn. He knows more than I gave him credit for. How did he know that we were to be married? He came out with it in his rage to-day. And how did he know that I’d been lending you money----” “Come into the dining-room.” There came the sound of a knock and then the voice of Braime spoke very faintly. “I’ve set the table, my lady.” After that Lois heard no more. “Who was that? Was it somebody talking?” It was Lizzy who spoke. “Was it you, Lois? I heard somebody say they’d lent money.”