His magnificent physique, his extraordinarily beautiful head, and his no less extraordinary, unassuming modesty, attracted and held her with links that grew stronger and stronger, and her happiest hours now were those in which he made himself delightfully at home in her flat, and added to his charm by talking to her with the old-fashioned, grandfatherly air she had enjoyed from the first. And so Hal found a younger and softer Lorraine than she had known for a long time, waiting to hear the burden of her tale of woe. They talked it over in every aspect, Hal sitting in her favourite attitude on a stool at Lorraine’s feet; but very little light could be won through the clouds. All the consolation Lorraine could suggest was a possibility that to be engaged and married to a man like Dudley might change Doris altogether for the better; but Hal, beyond feeling brighter for having spoken out her dismay, felt there was little indeed hope of that. “Have you seen Sir Edwin Crathie again?” Lorraine asked presently, and she was surprised to see a spot of colour instantly flame into Hal’s cheeks. “I’ve had a long motor ride with him,” she said, speaking as if it were a mere detail. “_Have you_?” was Lorraine’s very expressive rejoinder. “Why do you say it like that?” Hal laughed with seeming lightness. “He just took me for a treat. He’s rather sorry for me, being boxed up in an office, as he calls it.” “I see. Well, don’t forget he has the reputation for being rather a dangerous man, old girl.” Hal laughed again. “I’ll tell him so, and go armed with a revolver next time.” She noticed an inquiring look in Lorraine’s eyes, and added: “Don’t look so serious, Lorry; he is old enough to be my father. He likes a little amusement, the same as you and Baby Hermon.” She turned away as she spoke, and did not see the swift deepening of the look of inquiry, nor a certain strange expression that flitted across Lorraine’s face; and almost immediately the door opened, and Alymer Hermon walked in unannounced. “Hullo, Hal!” he exclaimed—“it’s quite a long time since I ran into you here.” “Hullo, Baby!” she retorted. “Why, I declare, you are beginning to look quite a man.” “If you don’t mind I’ll pick you up and carry you all the way down the stairs to the street; then you’ll see if I’m a man or not.” “Tut; any big creature could do that! Got any briefs yet?” “I have.” Lorraine looked up instantly with an eager, questioning glance—while Hal asked gaily: “What is it?... I suppose the original holder is sick, or dead, or something, and you are a stop-gap.” “You are wrong, Miss Sharp-tongue. I hold the brief entirely on my own. It hasn’t even anything to do with any one in Waltham’s Chambers.” And still Lorraine, with shining eyes, watched his face. “I suppose,” said Hal, “the other side have got a very small man, and they wanted a big one to frighten him?” “Wrong again. The other side has Pym, and he is quite six feet in height.”