. "I haven't looked into the papers, yet," he said.

Rainey, swaying slightly, jerked open the door of the bedroom. "I'll
tell him," he panted thickly. "I'll tell him to do as you say."

"Thank you, I wish you would," said Winthrop.

At the same moment, from the hall, Garrett announced, "Mrs. Vance, sir."
And Mabel Vance, tremulous and frightened, entered the room.

Winthrop approached her eagerly.

"Ah! Mrs. Vance," he exclaimed, "can I see Miss Vera?"

Embarrassed and unhappy, Mrs. Vance moved restlessly from foot to foot,
and shook her head.

"Please, Mr. District Attorney," she begged. "I'm afraid not. This
afternoon upset her so. And she's so nervous and queer that the
Professor thinks she shouldn't see nobody."

"The Professor?" he commented. His voice was considerate, conciliatory.
"Now, Mrs. Vance," he said, "I've known Miss Vera ever since she was a
little girl, known her longer than you have, and, I'm her friend, and
you're her friend, and--"

"I am," protested Mabel Vance tearfully. "Indeed I am!"

"I know you are," Winthrop interrupted hastily. "You've been more than
a friend to her, you've been a sister, mother, and you don't want any
trouble to come to her, do you?"

"I don't," cried the woman. "Oh!" she exclaimed miserably, "I told them
there'd be trouble!"

Winthrop laughed reassuringly.

"Well, there won't be any trouble," he declared, "if I can help it. And
if you want to help her, help me. Persuade her to let me talk to her.
Don't mind what the Professor says."

"I will," declared Mrs. Vance with determination, "I will." She started
eagerly toward the hall, and then paused and returned. Her hands were
clasped; her round, baby eyes, wet with tears, were fixed upon Winthrop
appealingly.

"Oh, please," she pleaded, "you're not going to hurt him, are you? Paul,
my husband," she explained, "he's been such a good husband to me."

Winthrop laughed uneasily.

"Why, that'll be all right," he protested.

"He doesn't mean any harm," insisted Mrs. Vance, "he's on the level;
true, he is!"

"Why, of course, of course," Winthrop assented.

Unsatisfied, Mrs. Vance burst into tears. "It's this spirit business
that makes the trouble!" she cried. "I tell them to cut it out. Now, the
mind reading at the theatre," she sobbed, "there's no harm in that, is
there? And there's twice the money in it. But this ghost raising"--she
raised her eyes appealingly, as though begging to be contradicted--"it's