“What do you mean by that, sir?” said Lawson.

“Only that you need not stay in the room all the time—­come in and out, of course—­but don’t imagine the man to be a thief until he is proved such.”

“Well, sir, your commands must be obeyed, of course, but you have many articles of virtue and elegance about.”

“Never mind that, Lawson—­do as I tell you.”

When his servant left the room Noel took a five-pound note out of his pocket, and enclosing it in an open envelope laid it carelessly on the chimney-piece.  There was no writing on the envelope, and the note might well have been slipped into it by mistake.  Noel also slipped a ring of some value from his finger, and dropped it into a little tray, which contained odds and ends of different descriptions.

“Now I’ve laid my trap,” he said to himself.  “My poor little Daisy, I hope I may ensnare your ogre to his destruction.”

The next morning early Dove, well pleased with his job, and never guessing that the smallest suspicions had attached themselves to him, arrived at Noel’s rooms.  He was a most idle man, and seldom cared for work, but he was pleased at Noel’s singling him out, and imagined that notwithstanding her running away, he owed this visit to little Daisy.

“She’s a pert little thing,” he said to himself, “and if she’s so true to me as all this, why I suppose I must leave her alone in the future.  I made a nice little haul out of her the other day, and I’ve got several of them sovereigns about me still; but lor, wasn’t she in a piteous fright when I took that cheque away with me!”

Dove was highly pleased with the appearance of Noel’s rooms.  He could see no beauty in the simplicity of the girls’ Palace Beautiful, but although he was quite incapable of judging of the value of the pictures and exquisite little statuettes which adorned the walls, he was judge enough of the depth and richness of the Turkey rugs, and of the wealth which must have been expended over the very select furniture of Noel’s sitting-room.

Lawson, wondering much at his master’s directions but supposing that Dove must be a very special protege, received him with much cordiality, gave him directions with regard to his work, and then left him alone.  Dove painted and cleaned, and whistled as he worked; he felt quite cheerful and virtuous, and began to consider that the position of British workmen was not such a bad one after all.  He felt more and more pleased with Daisy Mainwaring for having put him in the way of such agreeable and profitable occupation, and more and more resolved to leave her alone for the future.

“Maybe if I was to talk to the pretty little dear she’d find me a deal more jobs of this yere sort,” he said to himself.  “A little lady she is, and no mistake, and she keeps very genteel friends, as any one can see with half an eye.”