elephone for my maid."

Then she added, seemingly as an afterthought,

"I never pay the rent, Mr. Druce, until the end of the week."

CHAPTER XX

DRUCE SIGNS A SIGNIFICANT DOCUMENT

Mary Randall realized that she was playing a dangerous game. She had
placed herself in Druce's power because taking that risk had seemed to
her the best way to gather evidence against the Cafe Sinister. She had
not acted without laying her plans carefully. Her whole campaign for the
week that she was to be in Druce's dive had been mapped out before she
set foot so unexpectedly inside his door.

The girl depended upon two things for protection. First was Druce's fear
of the power of John Boland. She believed that the man would not dare to
use physical violence against her if he thought she was what she had
represented herself to be--John Boland's agent. Second was his desire for
a renewal of the lease to the cafe. Mary was confident that Druce would
plot against her but she was equally sure he would not move until after
the lease had been signed. If both these protections failed, she still
had her magazine pistol. And she knew how to use it.

In coming into Druce's place she had deliberately counted on the
ascendancy which she knew her beauty and her air of mystery had obtained
over him. She was playing the pander at his own game. It was an extremely
dangerous game but she believed she could beat him. And the results would
be worth the risk.

Meanwhile her greatest anxiety was to prevent Druce from communicating in
any way with John Boland. If Druce should learn through Boland that he
had not delegated her to negotiate the lease, that she was in fact Mary
Randall, then she would be face to face with a fight for her life. But
she was quite sure that Druce would not communicate with Boland. She knew
the workings of Boland's office well enough to understand how difficult
it was for Druce to get a word with the master of the Electric Trust and
as a special precaution she had put an inhibition upon him not to call at
or telephone to the office. Finally, before she had quite finished with
Boland, she had arranged with his telephone operator that no calls from
Druce should be put on John Boland's wire.

Mary's first move after she had been shown to her suite was to telephone
to Anna, her maid, whom she had left nearby before making her visit to
the cafe. Anna arrived in a short time