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age too. Won't you save her from their clutches?"

You mean Jane Finn?"

Yes."

It is her you came here to look for? Yes?"

That's it."

The girl looked at him, then passed her hand across her forehead.

Jane Finn. Always I hear that name. It is familiar."

Tommy came forward eagerly.

You must know SOMETHING about her?"

But the girl turned away abruptly.

I know nothing--only the name." She walked towards the door. Suddenly she

uttered a cry. Tommy stared. She had caught sight of the picture he had laid

against the wall the night before. For a moment he caught a look of terror in her

eyes. As inexplicably it changed to relief. Then abruptly she went out of the room.

Tommy could make nothing of it. Did she fancy that he had meant to attack her

with it? Surely not. He rehung the picture on the wall thoughtfully.

Three more days went by in dreary inaction. Tommy felt the strain telling on his

nerves. He saw no one but Conrad and Annette, and the girl had become dumb.

She spoke only in monosyllables. A kind of dark suspicion smouldered in her

eyes. Tommy felt that if this solitary confinement went on much longer he would

go mad. He gathered from Conrad that they were waiting for orders from "Mr.

Brown." Perhaps, thought Tommy, he was abroad or away, and they were obliged

to wait for his return.

But the evening of the third day brought a rude awakening.

It was barely seven o'clock when he heard the tramp of footsteps outside in the

passage. In another minute the door was flung open. Conrad entered. With him

was the evil-looking Number 14. Tommy's heart sank at the sight of them.

Evenin', gov'nor," said the man with a leer. "Got those ropes, mate?"

The Secret Adversary