"Mrs. Gardner," he said, "I will confess that I have been wasting
my time with this young man. You are a trifle severe upon me.
You may find, and before long, that I am your best friend."
She laughed delightfully.
"Dear Mr. Pritchard," she exclaimed, "it is a strange thought,
that! If only I dared hope that some day it might come true!"
"More unlikely things, madam, are happening every hour," the
detective remarked. "The world--our little corner of it, at any
rate--is full of anomalies. There might even come a time to any
one of us three when liberty was more dangerous than the prison
cell itself."
He nodded carelessly to Tavernake, and with a bow to Elizabeth
turned and left the room. Elizabeth remained as though turned to
stone, looking after him as he descended the stairs.
"The man is a fool!" Tavernake cried, roughly.
Elizabeth shook her head and sighed.
"He is something far more ineffective," she said. "He is just a
little too clever."
CHAPTER, XV
GENERAL DISCONTENT
Elizabeth did not at once rejoin her friends. Instead, she sank
on to the low settee close to where she had been standing, and
drew Tavernake down to her side. She waved her hand across at
the others, who were calling for her.
"In a moment, dear people," she said.
Then she leaned back among the cushions and laughed at her
companion.
"Tell me, Mr. Tavernake," she asked, "don't you feel that you
have stepped into a sort of modern Arabian Nights?"
"Why?"
"Oh, I know Mr.
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