ommon, ordinary coach-dog, would you?"

"Yes, but see here--listen: Doctor Dillon has been here, and he is
perfectly shocked. He says there may be complications, and the very
least you can do is to be careful. Your father has had the hotel boys
looking everywhere for you. When are you coming back?"

Here was the direct question which Blount had been dreading. Now, if
never before, the wretched involvement had reached a point beyond which
it was impossible to follow his father's plea for a continuance of the
kinsman amenities.

"I think you had better leave me out of any plans you are making for the
day," he answered evasively. "I shall be pretty busy."

"No--listen," she insisted. "It's wrong to work on Sunday, but if you
will be obstinate, you must stop at luncheon-time. We are going to drive
out to Wartrace Hall this afternoon; Doctor Dillon says we positively
_must_ take you away from town and keep you quiet for a few days."

"I can't go with you," he answered brusquely, adding: "And I'm not sure
that I can join you at luncheon. There is so much to be done that I
shall probably drop around to the club for a bite at one o'clock. Don't
wait for me, and don't worry. Above all, please don't tell anybody where
I am--not even Dick Gantry."

He was considerably relieved when she said "Good-by" rather abruptly,
and rang off. None the less, he thought it a little strange that his
father should be planning to leave the capital on the very eve of the
great struggle. Was he so sure that nothing could happen within the next
twenty-four hours? Leaving the query answerless, he returned to the
interrupted duty. Deliberately, with the open telephone-book before him,
he sought and found Judge Hemingway's number; and a few seconds later he
had the judge's house in Mesa Circle, with the judge himself answering
his call. The wire conversation was brief and to the point. Cautiously,
and in well-guarded phrase, Blount stated his case. By a series of
correlated incidents which could be explained later, documentary
evidence of a great conspiracy had fallen into his hands; would the
judge step aside so far as to accord him a Sunday interview, taking his
word for it that the emergency was most urgent, and that the time was
too short to admit of the ordinary methods of procedure?

The judge's answer was satisfactory, though Blount fancied it was rather
reluctantly given. A family engagement--an accepted luncheon
invitation--would interve