And yet all this bye-play was unnoticed by the other boarders sitting at the table. Mrs. Dollman was a little nervous, and Mr. Staines was good-naturedly solicitous on her behalf. That was all. An hour later the room was empty of all but Miss Stratton and Mr. Staines, and the two were outwardly as enamoured of each other as yesterday. She wished to amuse him, lull his suspicions, and engage his attention until it was time to meet her in the evening, in her assumed character of Mr. Bootle. He was bent upon watching every gesture and movement of hers, and upon comparing her personality with that of the girl he suspected her to be. Thus the afternoon wore away, and tea-time arrived. Miss Stratton had declined an invitation to have a walk with Mr. Staines, saying that she preferred a tête-à-tête by the fireside, and she had found an opportunity to warn Mrs. Dollman against saying or doing anything that could ruin the plans which were being matured with a view to capturing Mr. Staines. He was apparently as complaisant and love-stricken as ever, and both played at exchanging confidences which bore very little relation to their actual experiences. When, shortly before tea-time, Miss Stratton adjourned to her own room, she imagined that her influence over the man whom she was befooling was almost as strong as it was yesterday. But he was deeper than she gave him credit for being, and had made an important discovery. While toying with her hair, and enthusiastically admiring its golden brilliance, he had satisfied himself that it was an artificial covering which hid the darker glory which was her natural heritage. For one brief period our heroine’s life was in immediate danger, and the reason it was spared then was because her enemy had promptly resolved to seek an opportunity likely to be fraught with less danger to himself. They saw each other at the tea-table awhile later, and Miss Stratton was looking lovelier than ever--so lovely that, though he hated her, Gregory Staines felt himself moved by the wildest admiration of her outward charms, for her eyes sparkled and her cheeks glowed with the excitement of her conviction that at last the hour of her triumph was near at hand. Mrs. Twiley was here again. She had brought a message from her husband, and fully understood the importance of the step he contemplated taking that night. The adventure he proposed was a somewhat risky one. But she had every confidence in his courage and discretion, and was, moreover, much more capable of keeping a secret than her sister. Gregory Staines watched her narrowly, but could not detect any embarrassment in her intercourse with him, or any covert collusion between her and Miss Stratton.