“Not at all. You want experience, not cleverness. We should do wonders by-and-by if you would lay aside your primness. Beauty like yours is an asset of great value in business as in everything else. If I had your face I would become a millionaire,” added Marie Laure with conviction. But flattery was wasted upon Audrey. “You may become one as it is,” she answered earnestly, “and without me. I want to know what you would give me for my share?” The dry-faced woman looked at her steadily. “I must first be convinced,” she said drily, “that it is yours to sell.” Audrey almost gasped. “What do you mean?” she said breathlessly. “You know it is mine; you know I bought it, paid for it, and that I am the head--not a very active or clever head, but still the head.” The cold eyes watched her intently as the reply came:-- “The business was bought and paid for by Madame Rocada. Now you say you are not Madame Rocada. You tell everybody so.” “Everybody has known that from the beginning,” retorted Audrey. “It is true I signed the lease as Rocada--I’m sorry I did even that--but it was with no intention of deceiving any one. It was known that it was only a trade name, and it makes no difference.” “I’m not so sure of that,” answered Laure. “I have an idea that it does make a difference, and that your having signed the lease in a name not your own may make it invalid.” “You think then that Mr. Candover would have allowed me to sign a contract which was no contract?” asked Audrey drily. This was well put, and Laure’s sallow face changed colour a little. “Why don’t you consult him about it?” she said quickly. “You have let yourself be guided by him throughout the business; you took the place on his advice; you furnished it at the shop he chose. He has all the documents concerning the sale, I believe?” “Yes,” admitted Audrey, recalling, with a heightened colour and a faster beating heart, that she had indeed, at the time of her great distress, left the whole affair in the hands of the man who had made such strong professions of friendship and kindness to her and her husband. “Then why not ask him how you stand? Why not suggest the sale to him, and see what he says? It will be, I think, this: that the business was bought in the name of Rocada, and that it belongs to the trading firm of that name, and not to any individual person. Certainly not to the woman who persistently injures the business by declaring that she is _not_ Madame Rocada!” Audrey was puzzled. She remained a few minutes in deep thought, and it was Mademoiselle Laure who broke the silence.