work, he looked at her keenly and when he started to
go he took Bessie by the hand playfully and pulled her off the porch,
and out of sight of the others.

"Listen," he said, earnestly, "there's something more than we know about
or can guess very easily the matter with your friend, Bessie. She's been
frightened--badly frightened. And it's dollars to doughnuts that it's
that scoundrel Brack who's frightened her, too. Keep your eyes on
her--see that she doesn't get a chance to speak to him or anyone else
alone."

"Do you think there's any danger of his coming back?" asked Bessie,
alarmed by his serious tone.

"I don't know, Bessie, but I do know Brack. And I've found out this much
about him. He's like a rabbit--he'll fight when he's driven into a
corner. And the time he's most dangerous is when he seems to be beaten,
when it looks as if he hadn't a leg to stand on."

"Do you think he's beaten now, Mr. Jamieson?"

"No, I don't! And just because he's the man he is. If it were anyone
else, I'd say yes, because I don't see what they can expect to do. But
you can depend upon it that Brack has some dirty trick up his sleeve,
and from all you tell me of this man Weeks, he's the same sort of an
ugly customer. So you keep your eyes open, and if anything happens to
worry you, call me up right away. Get me at my office if it's before
five o'clock; after that, call up this number." He wrote down a
telephone number on a slip of paper and handed it to Bessie.

"That's the telephone at my home, and if I'm not there myself ask for my
servant, Farrell. He'll be there, and he'll manage to get word to me
somehow, no matter where I am."

"Oh, I do hope I shan't have to bother you, Mr. Jamieson."

"Don't you worry about that. That's what I'm here for, to be bothered,
as you call it, if there's any need of me. Remember that you can't do
everything yourself--and you may only get into trouble yourself without
really helping if you try to do it all. So call on me if there's any
need. And, whatever you do, don't let Zara go out of the house alone on
any pretence. Remember that, will you?"

"I certainly will, Mr. Jamieson. You're awfully good to us, and I know
Zara would be grateful, too, if she were herself. She will be as soon as
all this trouble is over."

"I know that, Bessie. Don't you fuss around being grateful to me until
I've really done something for you. You know, you're the sort of girl I
like. You've got pluck, and you don't