"He's so magnetic, so compelling," she murmured dreamily. "He knows so much. Any girl might——"
She did not finish the sentence; but stole a glance at Thompson's tragic face.
They walked in silence as far as Piccadilly Circus, then in the glare of light she saw the misery of his expression.
"You silly old thing," she laughed, as she slipped her arm through his. "You funny old thing," and she laughed again.
That laugh was a Boddy lifebelt to the sinking heart of Thompson.
CHAPTER IX THE HOLDING UP OF LADY GLANEDALE
I
"More trouble, Tommy," remarked Gladys Norman one morning as James Thompson entered her room. He looked across at her quickly, a keen flash of interest in his somnolent brown eyes.
"Somebody's pinched Lady Glanedale's jewels. Just had a telephone message. What a happy place the world would be without drink and crime——"
"And women," added Thompson, alert of eye, and prepared to dodge anything that was coming.