But of course he wouldn't consent."

"More fool he to refuse such an offer. But in other ways she is downright stingy: dresses herself like a schoolgirl of seventeen, sweet simplicity unadorned. Not a jewel, even. And she should have had plenty of toilets and jewels in those Saratoga trunks we saw carried in!"

"I daresay you would have liked to have the ransacking of them!"

"I thought of that. But the Noels are far off in the other wing, and she has a dragon of a maid who seems always to be on guard."

"Good heavens, Flossie! I hope you won't do more than think of it. That sort of thing never pays. And we should be marked for ever!"

"Nonsense. What marks one is not the doing, but being found out. I don't mean to run risks. I said, there is the maid. And I doubt if the jewels are there, though they ought to be. It isn't worth while. But we are bound to get hold of the money—or money's worth—by Christmas."

Probably Noyes winced for the second time at this renewed reminder, but he was at the moment out of sight. He had plunged into the dressing-room, and was throwing things about there in the course of a hurried toilet. The door between the two rooms was set wide, and now and then he came to the opening to speak.

"I thought you were depending on your bridge. You wanted to play Auction with Mrs. Noel—that was the tale in London. You never said a word about her jewels."

"Right: I meant to play here, and win from her. But the little fool hates cards. And the old lady is puritanical, and hates them too. They are practically barred, or allowed with a limit of sixpenny stakes."

"Can't you work it some other way? Flatter the heiress, and creep up her sleeve. Get her to restore us, as MacIvor won't let her do up the Castle!"—a laugh here, which was presently extinguished in the folds of a towel.

"I can get round most girls, but she doesn't take to me. She's like a—a glacis with no vantage for the foot. The only human bit about her is that she's curious. She's curious about the ghost here, and wants to find out. I told her I would try to help her--"

"You would help her! Why doesn't she question the family? They would know if there is anything in it. But of course there isn't."

"It is the solitary point on which we touch. A sympathetic interest in ghosts is better than no fellow-interest at all. I've given myself out as psychical—save the mark!"—and here the lady laughed. "I might personate the ghost, and get at the boxes that way.