see you at once," it said. "No, no, don't
come here," hurriedly, as he began proposing such a venture. "There is a
cab waiting at the door now. I shall be at your place in twenty
minutes."

"All right, Nora; anything you say. But if you'll only let me----"

"In twenty minutes," said the rare voice. "Good-bye."

The blank which followed told him that the girl had hung up; he turned
to the boy.

"Danny," said he, "there'll be a lady along in a little while. Have her
come in here and let me know right away."

"Yes, sir," said Danny, obligingly.

With his brows puckered in perplexity Bat went back to the lounging
room. Ashton-Kirk was looking out at the crowds passing in the street;
Dennison was reading a blackly headlined story on the front page of one
of the newspapers, his pudgy hands shaking and his eyes feverish.

"The worst thing of the kind I ever heard of," said he with a kind of
gurgle of horror. "The very worst. The police have been bragging about
their efficiency during this last administration; now let's see what
they can do. Here's a case that'll try them out."

"Oh, yes," said Bat, absently. "You were talking about being upset by
this thing. It was----" He paused suddenly, remembering that he had not
yet heard.

"A murder," said the detective, as he threw down the newspaper. "A most
brutal and devilish murder. I talked with Tom Burton last night only a
few hours before this terrible thing must have happened."

"Tom Burton!" Scanlon's big, ruddy face went a little pale. "Not the
'Bounder'?"

"Yes, they did call him that," confessed the other, a little
resentfully. "But that was all wrong. Burton was a good fellow when you
knew him."

But Bat Scanlon was not listening; he had snatched up one of the
newspapers. In staring head-lines he was reading:

MYSTERIOUSLY STRUCK DOWN
STRANGE DEED AT STANWICK!
_Tom Burton, Well-Known Man About Town, the Victim._
_Police Are Puzzled!_

In the body of the type the hurried details of the crime were given--or
as many of them as the journal had been able to gather before going to
press.

Stanwick was a new suburb on a branch line; and some time after midnight
a policeman, Colby by name, had been patrolling his beat, which was
along Duncan Street. A girl in the dress of a nurse, and much
frightened, rushed up to him, and in great agitation announced that
there was a man lying dead on the floor at 620. Colby, startled and
excited, accompanied the gir