nditures could not have been
more than six hundred. His dementia, ironically enough from the day that
he came into his fortune, took the form of a most pitiable and abject
fear that he would die in poverty, misery, and want; and so, year after
year, cashing his checks as fast as he got them, never trusting the bank
with a penny, he kept hiding away somewhere in his house every cent he
could scrape and save from his income--which to-day must amount, at a
minimum calculation, to fifty thousand dollars."

"And," observed Jimmie Dale quietly. "Connie Myers robbed him of it,
and--"

"No!" Her voice was quivering with passion, as she caught up his words.
"Twice in the last month Connie Myers TRIED to rob him, but the money
was too securely hidden. Twice he broke into Doyle's house when the old
man was out, but on both occasions was unsuccessful in his search, and
was interrupted and forced to make his escape on account of Doyle's
return. To-night, an hour ago, in an empty room on the second floor
of that tenement, in the room facing the landing, old Luther Doyle was
MURDERED!"

There was silence for an instant. Her hand had closed in a tight
pressure on his arm. The darkness seemed to add a sort of ghastly
significance to her words.

"In God's name, how do you know all this?" he demanded wildly. "How do
you know all these things?

"Does that matter now?" she answered tensely. "You will know that when
you know the rest. Oh, don't you understand, Jimmie, there is not a
moment to lose now? It was easy to lure a half-witted creature like that
anywhere; it was Connie Myers who lured him to the tenement and murdered
him there--but from that point, Jimmie, I am not sure of our ground. I
do not know whether Connie Myers is alone in this or not; but I do know
that he is going to Doyle's house again to-night to make another search
for the money. There is no question but that old Doyle was murdered to
give Connie Myers and his accomplices, if there are any, a chance to
tear the house inside out to find the money, to give them the whole
night to work in without interruption if necessary--but Doyle dead in
his own house could have interfered no more with them than Doyle dead in
that tenement! Why was he lured to the tenement by Connie Myers when he
could much more easily have been put out of the way in his own house?
Jimmie, there is something behind this, something more that you must
find out. There may be others in this besides Co