Hemmer leant back in his chair, and shrugged his shoulders.

    "I don't know what I can do, Mr. Bryce,' he said. "I was hoping you might take the place of one of our accountants, who is leaving us, but I think that that, you will agree, is out of the question." Jack nodded.

    "On second thoughts, I am not so sure," the lawyer went on, "that you won't be a very great help to me, providing always, of course," he added hastily, "that you do nothing illegal."

    "Or, if I do anything illegal, I do it on my own responsibility," Jack amplified with a smile, which was reflected by Mr. Hemmer.

    "Exactly," he said. "We have a very large clientele, and we are constantly getting into difficulties from which private detectives and the ordinary resources of the law cannot extricate us. Now here is a case." He took up an envelope and extracted a letter. "Do you know Mr. Dennis Wollaston by name?" Jack shook his head. "He is an extremely wealthy young man. His father was Wollaston, the big colliery proprietor, and he left his fortune equally between his daughter Grace and his son. They live in Park Lane, and our firm has acted for them for many years."

    Jack waited, wondering into what difficulty the Wollastons had got, that they needed the service of his strong arm.

    "Miss Wollaston is a very charming girl," continued Hemmer. "Unfortunately, her brother is not a very charming young man. And, in spite of the very respectable sum which was left him, his sister is greatly concerned as to the future of the fortune. His vice is gambling. He lost forty thousand pounds at a notorious gambling house near Cavendish Square, and when we had that place raided he found out another. At present he seems to be frequenting the worst of all, the identity of which is at present a secret, in spite of all our efforts."

    "What do you want me to do?"

    "I want you to see Miss Wollaston. I met her last night at dinner, and I had a talk with her. Poor girl, she is desperate," said Mr. Hemmer, shaking his head. "Not only her brother's money but his health is going. Undoubtedly he has got into very bad hands. She wanted me to send you to Park Lane, but I want you to meet her elsewhere, because I have an idea that one of the servants at the house is in the gambler's pay. Every time we have tried to get information, somebody has always managed to get in before us with a warning."

    "What have you arranged?" asked Jack, not without interest.

    Mr. Hemmer took up a paper.

    "You are to be in Brentford High Street, opposite the Police Court, at half-past three this afternoon. Exactly at that hour Miss Wollaston will drive up in her two-seater, and you will get into the car."

    "That sounds romantic," said Jack with a bright smile, and went out in pleasant anticipation of adventure.

    He had taken his stand, as he had been directed, in the narrow bottle-neck of Brentford when he saw the car approaching. It was driven by a girl of twenty-four, who was searching the side-walk as she made her slow progress, as though seeking someone. Her eyes fell on Jack, and he lifted his hat.

    "Don't trouble to stop the car," he said as he stepped on to the running-board and over the low door.

    "You are Captain Bryce, aren't you?" asked the girl.

    She was a wholesome, British type, tanned with the sun, and the pleasant grey eyes she bent on Jack sparkled with good humour.

    "I had to choose this rather unusual method of seeing you," she said, piloting her way through the maze of traffic. "Mr. Hemmer thinks that the servants are not to be trusted. I am going to drive to Hampton Court, across the bridge, and into the open country.