Lawrence stretched out his hand for a cigarette as if he had said the most natural thing in the world. A less clever man would have shown something like triumph. But Lawrence had thought this all out as carefully as if it were really a new melodrama he was writing. The time had come when matters must be forced into the channel to suit himself. Already he had laid the lines carefully.

This woman must be made to own that the missing notes had really come from her, or at least part of them. Once this was done, the novelist felt pretty sure of his game. But though he wanted to startle and alarm his companion, he didn\'t desire to expose his suspicions too far.

"A very singular circumstance, is it not?" he asked, quietly.

Leona Lalage had recovered herself; she did not know that Lawrence had been purposely busy over his cigarette to give her an opportunity of so doing.

"Really, I ought to be indignant," she cried.

"Surely not," Lawrence murmured quietly. "I have made no accusations. In taking up the matter on behalf of Gordon Bruce, I have to make searching inquiries. I naturally ask myself where are the rest of those notes. By a strange fate they turn up here. Isidore identifies the numbers and I identify the scent. I am more or less able to prove that it was you who produced those notes the night of the card party. You went to your room to get some cash which you changed into gold. Therefore the notes were in your possession."

"But I\'ll swear to you," the Countess broke in vehemently. "I\'ll swear----"

"My dear friend, there is no occasion to do anything of the kind. Am I making any kind of accusation against you? Ridiculous! Why, black as things look against my friend Bruce, I don\'t suspect him. All I want you to do is to try and recollect whence you got those notes."

Leona Lalage kept her face half hidden behind her fan. For the life of her she could not tell whether this man was playing with her or not Hitherto men had been her puppets, hitherto she had regarded all of them as fools. Lawrence smoked calmly on, as if he were discussing the weather or something equally exciting.

"I\'ll try," she said, "but then I handle so much money. I play cards, I bet on horses. There are scores of ways. But I\'ll try."

Lawrence rose and took his leave. He dropped in at the nearest telephone call office and late as it was rang up Isidore. The latter was waiting.

"It\'s all right," he said. "I have had Balmayne here as you suggested. And I have told him exactly as much as you desired him to know. He\'s just gone off in a great hurry, for any money to Lytton Avenue."

As a matter of fact, Balmayne\'s cab passed Lawrence a minute or two later. The latter smiled as if well pleased with himself.

"Splendid so far," he murmured. "She\'ll walk into the trap, in fact they both will. And now I think I have really earned a good night\'s rest."

Leona Lalage was raging up and down the room as Balmayne entered. The first saffron streaks of dawn were making the electrics thin a............