"May I sit down ?" "Certainly," was the somewhat cold assent.

"If you really have anything to say to me, perhaps you had better let me know what it is at once." Peter Phipps was a man whose life had been spent in facing and overcoming difficulties, but as he took the chair to which Josephine had somewhat ungraciously pointed, he was compelled to admit to himself that he was confronted with a task which might well tax his astuteness to the utmost.

To begin with he made use of one of his favourite weapons,--silence.

He sat quite still, studying the situation, and in those few moments Josephine found herself studying him.

He was tall, over six feet, with burly shoulders, a thickset body, and legs rather short for his height.