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"Your mother?" Dunn said wondering greatly to think this man should still have such memories.

But Deede Dawson seemed either to resent his tone or else to be angry with himself for giving way to such weakness. In a voice more like his usual one, he said harshly and sneeringly:

"Oh, yes, I had a mother once, just like everybody else. Why not? Most people have their mothers, though it's not an arrangement I should care to defend. Now then, Ella was with you tonight; you and she were alone together a long time."

"Well," growled Dunn, "what of it?"

"Fine girl, isn't she?" asked Deede Dawson, and laughed.

Dunn did not speak. It filled him with such loathing to hear this man so much as utter Ella's name, it was all he could do to keep his hands motionless by his side and not make use of them about the other's throat.

"She's been useful, very useful," Deede Dawson went on meditatively. "Her mother had some money when I married her. I don't mind telling you it's all spent now, but Ella's a little fortune in herself."

"I didn't know we came to talk about her," said Dunn slowly. "I thought you had something else to say to me."

"So I have," Deede Dawson answered. "That's why I brought you here. We are safe from eavesdroppers here, in a house you can never tell who is behind a curtain or a door. But then, Ella is a part of my plans, a very important part. Do you remember I told you I might want you to take a second packing-case away from here in the car one night?"

"Yes, I remember," said Dunn slowly. "I remember. What would be in it? The same sort of thing that was in--that other?"

"Yes," answered Deede Dawson. "Much the same."

"I shall want to see for myself," said Dunn. "I'm a trustful sort of person, but I don't go driving about the country with packing-cases late at night unless I've seen for myself what's inside."

CHAPTER XXII

PLOTS AND PLAYS

"Very wise of you," yawned Deede Dawson. "That's just what Ella said--what's that?"

For instinctively Dunn had raised his hand, but he lowered it again at once.

"Oh, cut the cackle," he said impatiently. "Tell me what you want me to do, and make it plain, very plain, for I can tell you there's a good deal about all this I don't understand, and I'm not inclined to trust you far. For one thing, what are you after yourself? Where do you come in? What are you going to get? And there's another thing I want to say. If you are thinking of playing any tricks on me don't do it, unless you are ready to take big risks. There's only one man alive who ever made a fool of me, and his name is Rupert Dunsmore, and I don't think he's today what insurance companies call a good risk. Not by any manner of means." He paused to laugh harshly. "Let's get to business," he said. "Look here, how do I know you mean all you say about Rupert Dunsmore? What's he to you?"

"Nothing," answered Deede Dawson promptly. "Nothing. But there's some one I'm acting for to whom he is a good deal."

"Who is that?" Dunn asked sharply.

"Do you think I'm going to tell you?" retorted the other, and laughed in his cold, mirthless manner. "Perhaps you aren't the only one who owes him a grudge."

"That's likely enough, but I want to know where I'm standing," said Dunn. "Is this unknown person you say you are acting for anxious to bring about Rupert Dunsmore's death?"

"I'm not answering any questions, so you needn't ask them," replied Deede Dawson.

"But I will tell you that there's something big going on. Or I shouldn't be in it, I don't use my brains on small things, you know. If it comes off all right, I--" He paused, and for once a thrill of genuine emotion sounded in his voice. "Thousands," he said abruptly. "Yes, and more--more. But there's an obstacle--Rupert Dunsmore. It's your place to remove him. That'll suit you, and it'll mean good pay, as much as you like to ask for in reason. And Ella, if you want her. The girl won't be any use to me when this is over, and you can have her if you like. I don't think she'll object from what I can see--not that