Chapter Thirty Six.
The Locked Door in Park Lane.
“Excuse me, Miss Lorena, I do not,” he declared quickly. “Only we have heard so many threats of exposure that to cease to regard them seriously. Mr Statham’s high reputation is sufficient guarantee to the public.”
“I quite admit that,” answered the girl. “It is not the present that is in question, but the past.”
“In these days of hustle, a man’s past matters but little. It is what he is, not what he was, which the public recognise.”
“Personally,” she said, “I hold Mr Statham in highest esteem. I have never met him, it’s true, but I have knowledge of certain kind and generous actions on his part, actions which have brought happiness and prosperity to those who have fallen upon misfortune. For that reason I resolved to speak to you and warn you of the plot in progress. Do you happen to know a certain Mr John Adams?”
Rolfe started, and stared at her. What could she know of the Damoclean sword suspended over the house of Statham?
“Well,” he answered guardedly, “I once met a man of that name, I think.”