dle me, but you can't make me turn against Sidney
Prale. That's a golden little thought for to-day, as the preacher says."

CHAPTER XVIII

A WOMAN'S WAY

The masked man stepped forward, snarling behind his mask, his hands
closing, and the two thugs stepped forward also, as if to use Murk
roughly if the other gave the command.

But there was an interruption. Kate Gilbert came in from the adjoining
room.

The masked man whirled to meet her.

"You should not--" he began.

"It makes no difference," Kate Gilbert said. "This man knows me, or he
would not have been set to spying on me. Sidney Prale knows that I am
associated with his enemies, since I was talking to him to-day. It is
not necessary for _me_ to mask my face!"

"It really was not necessary for you to come," said the masked man.
"This fellow refuses to have anything to do with us."

"I cannot blame him. You used violence to get him here. I am afraid that
I should refuse to have business relations with a man who knocked me on
the head."

"It was the only way. We couldn't approach him on the street very well.
We have him here now and perhaps may be able to force him to see the
light."

"I shall not countenance more violence!" Kate Gilbert said. "I told you
in the beginning that force was not to be used. This man is not to be
blamed in any way. He merely is an employee of the man we are fighting."

"I think it justifiable to use any method that will get results," the
masked man told her. "You seem to forget----"

"I do not forget!" Kate Gilbert cried. "Who has a better right to hope
to see Sidney Prale punished? Who has suffered more than I and mine? But
I do not wish to see violence used. This man may be made to help us, but
I fear you have taken the wrong method. And what do you intend doing
now?"

"Perhaps it will be as well for you to return home and allow us to
handle this part of the affair," the masked man told her. "No woman
likes violence, of course, but at times it is necessary. We are going to
leave him here to-night to think things over. He will be stiff and sore
and hungry in the morning."

"But----" Kate Gilbert protested.

"It is the better way, I assure you--and quite necessary. This thing is
so big that it must be handled with firmness and decision. You have
aided us greatly, but I think it will be a mistake to let you take
command of the situation."

Kate Gilbert's eyes flashed angrily, and her face flushed.

"Very we