hing familiar about her appearance when I first saw her! No
wonder Miss Lawton had promised not to divulge her name. It's a small
world, Morrow. I'll have to look into this. Go back now and keep your
eye on Jimmy."

"Very well, sir." Guy Morrow paused at the door and turned toward his
chief. "Have you seen the late editions of the evening papers, Mr.
Blaine? They're all slamming you, for refusing to accept the call to
Grafton, to investigate those bomb outrages last night."

Henry Blaine smiled.

"There won't be any more of them," he remarked quietly. "That strike
will die down as quickly as it arose, Morrow; the whole thing was a
plant, and the labor leaders and factory owners themselves were merely
tools in the hands of the politicians. That strike was arranged by our
friend Timothy Carlis, to get me away from Illington on a false
mission."

"You don't think, sir, that they suspect--"

"No, but they are taking no chances on my getting into the game. They
don't suspect yet, but they will soon--because the time has come for
us to get busy."

CHAPTER VII

THE LETTER

The next morning, when Ramon Hamilton presented himself at Henry
Blaine's office in answer to the latter's summons, he found the great
detective in a mood more nearly bordering upon excitability than he
could remember having witnessed before. Instead of being seated calmly
at his desk, his thoughts masked with his usual inscrutable
imperturbability, Blaine was pacing restlessly back and forth with the
disquietude, not of agitation, but of concentrated, ebullient energy.

"I sent for you, Mr. Hamilton," he began, after greeting his visitor
cordially and waving him to a chair, "because we must proceed actively
with the investigation into the alleged bankruptcy of Pennington
Lawton. We have been passive long enough for me to have gathered some
significant facts, but we now must make a salient move. The time
hasn't yet come for me to step out into the open. When I do, it will
be a tooth-and-nail fight, and I must be equipped with facts, not
theories. I want some particulars about Mr. Lawton's insolvency, and
there is no one who could more naturally inquire into this without
arousing suspicion than you."

"I don't need to tell you, Mr. Blaine, how anxious I am to do anything
I can to help you, for Miss Lawton's sake," Ramon Hamilton replied
eagerly. "I should like to have looked into the matter long
ago--indeed, I felt that suspicion must ha