It was a curious scene, a scene to remember long afterwards. In all Lawrence\'s imaginative writing he had never constructed anything more striking than this. He was about to hear the story of a strange crime, and it could not be told in a better setting than the Corner House.

The garish sunlight struggled through the grimy panes. Under ordinary conditions the drawing-room was a luxurious one. But the fine dust of years had settled upon pictures and statues and upon the upholstery of the old Empire furniture. As Charlton paced to and fro a gossamer cloud of dust seemed to follow him.

In the centre of it all sat Leona. Lawrence could see now that there were marks and bruises on her face, the result of the autocar accident, which showed out now there was no artist to attend to them.

She sat with her hands folded in her lap grimly, patiently waiting for the novelist to speak. He produced a cigarette.

"You won\'t mind?" he said.

"I will have one with you," Leona replied. "That will be more comfortable. Now, will you be so good as to proceed?"

"We will go back to the beginning," Lawrence began. "Here is a very beautiful and fascinating woman, living all alone in her wealth. Her talents and her loveliness have taken her into the cream of society."

"Which isn\'t worth the trouble when you\'ve got it."

"There I perfectly agree with you. But the lady I speak of is bound to lead. Wherever she is and whatever walk of life she finds herself in, she is bound to lead. She flashes out and dazzles London. She lives in a fine house and entertains royally. But there is one thing that puzzles me. Why does the lady reside so far from Park Lane or Belgravia or Mayfair?"

"Lytton Avenue houses are large and they have gardens."

Lawrence smiled as he flicked off the end of his cigarette.

"It is very good of you to assist me in my deductions," he said. "But that does not quite account for everything; in fact, it accounts for nothing. There are finer houses in the localities I speak of, with better gardens. And a lady who pays for nothing has no need to study economy."

Leona laughed outright.

"I have paid for nothing for years," she said. "L\'audace, l\'audace et toujours l\'audace! But for circumstances over which I had no control I might have gone on to my death. But proceed. I am interested."

"Let us hope the story will proceed in grip as it proceeds," Lawrence murmured. "I was interested too. This, I say in effect to myself, is a splendid woman in a halo of mystery. I must study her with a view to a future heroine. I see her in the park where I can study her features. After a time I come to the conclusion that I have taken up a magnificent adventuress."

"Never a truer word in your life," Leona sneered.

"Well, I am glad not to have............