And then Sidney Prale hung up the receiver and whirled around with a
puzzled expression on his face.

"Murk," he said, "Miss Kate Gilbert is coming up here with that big maid
of hers--coming to see me. What she wants is more than I can guess,
remembering what happened the last time I talked with her. It may be
good news, Murk!"

They waited impatiently for the ring at the door. Murk opened it and
ushered them in.

He grinned at the gigantic Marie, but she did not return the compliment.
There was a serious expression in her face, and Murk looked past her at
Kate Gilbert, who was being greeted by Sidney Prale.

Something important had happened, Murk told himself immediately. Kate
Gilbert did not look frightened exactly or sorrowful or triumphant.
There was a peculiar expression about her mouth, and her face seemed
pale.

"I felt that I had to come, Mr. Prale, and have this talk with you,"
Kate Gilbert said, when she was seated near the window. "I wanted to
speak to you here instead of in some public place, and so I brought
Marie and came to your suite."

"You are welcome, Miss Gilbert, I am sure," Prale said. "If you wish to
speak in private, Marie and Murk can step into the adjoining room."

"Please," she said softly.

Murk opened the door, and the maid stepped in. Then he followed and
closed the door again. Prale sat down near Kate Gilbert and turned
toward her.

"Now, Miss Gilbert," he prompted.

She met his eyes squarely as she spoke, but her lips trembled at times
as if she were undergoing an ordeal.

"Mr. Prale," she said, "as you know, I have been associated with others
in an attempt to bring retribution home to you. When I became associated
with them, it was understood between us that there was to be no
violence, nothing outside the law. We were simply to attack you from
every angle, cause you trouble and annoyance, take away your money if we
could, break you in every way."

"Pardon me, but----"

"Please say nothing until I am finished, Mr. Prale. We began at once to
gather all the information we could about you and your affairs. We began
to plan for your downfall. We found that we could do nothing that
amounted to anything while you were in Honduras, where you were a
powerful man. But we were about to try, even there, when we learned that
you were selling out your properties and preparing to return to New
York.

"You may know how that struck us. You had gone away and made your
fortune, and