"Why does Mr. Sydney look at me like that?" she asked, with a little shrug of the shoulders. "He does not think that I came here to steal? Why, Mr. Sydney," she added, "I am very, very much richer than ever your brother was."
"Richer--than he was! Richer than two thousand a year!" he gasped.
The Baroness laughed softly but heartily. She stole a sidelong glance at Wrayson.
"Why, my dear young man," she said, "it costs me--oh! quite as much as that each year to dress."
Barnes looked at her as though she were something holy. When he spoke, there was awe in his tone. The problem which had formed itself in his thoughts demanded expression.
"And you say that you were a pal--I mean a friend of Morris's? You wrote him letters?"
"Why not?" she exclaimed. "Women have queer tastes, you know. We like all sorts of men. I think I must ask Mr. Wrayson to bring you in to tea one afternoon. Would you like to come?"
She nodded a farewell and turned to Wrayson.
"As for you," she said under her breath, "you had better come soon if you want to make your peace with Louise."
She nodded, and held out her exquisitely gloved hand.
"I knew you were going to be an ally," she murmured under her breath. "Don't let the others get hold of him."
She was gone before Wrayson could ask for an explanation. The others! If only he could discover who they were.
"Do you mind coming down into my flat for a moment, Barnes?" he asked. "I want to telephone to the office before I go out with you again."
The young man followed him heavily. He seemed a little dazed. In Wrayson's sitting-room, he stood looking about him as though appraising the value of the curios, pictures, and engravings with which the apartment was crowded. Wrayson, while waiting for his call, watched him curiously. In his present state his vulgarity was perhaps less glaringly apparent, but his lack of attractiveness was accentuated. His ears seemed to have grown larger, his pinched, Semitic features more repulsive, and his complexion sallower. He was pitchforked into a world of which he knew nothing, and he seemed stunned by his first contact with it. Only one thing remained--the greed in his eyes. They seemed to have grown narrower and brighter with desire.