e how it was that I didn't
see the car coming in time to avoid it. It was a big limousine with
several men inside, all singing and shouting riotously, and the
chauffeur, I think, must have been drunk, for he swerved the car
directly across the road in my path. They never stopped after they
had bowled me over, and no one seemed to know where they went."

"Then the police did not get their number?"

"No, but they will, of course. Not that I care, particularly; I'm
lucky to have got off as lightly as I did. I might have been killed."

"It was a miracle that you were not, Ramon. Do you know what I
believe? I don't think it was any accident, but a deliberate attempt
to assassinate you; to keep you from coming to me."

"What nonsense, dear! They were a wild, hilarious party, careless and
irresponsible. Such accidents happen every day."

"I am convinced that it was no accident. Ramon, I feel that I am to be
the victim of a conspiracy; that you are the only human being who
stands in the way of my being absolutely in the power of those who
would defraud me and defame father's name."

"Anita, what do you mean?"

"Dr. Franklin called upon me this afternoon; he left just before I
telephoned to you. He told me an astonishing piece of news. Ramon,
would you have considered my father a rich man?"

"What an absurd question, dear! Of course. One of the richest men in
the whole country, as you know."

"You say that he consulted you about his business affairs, and that
you knew of no trouble or difficulty which could have caused him
anxiety? His securities in stocks and bonds, his assets were all
sound?"

"Certainly. What do you mean?"

"I mean that my father died a pauper! That on the word of Mr.
Rockamore, Mr. Mallowe, Mr. Carlis and Dr. Franklin, he was on the
verge of dishonorable bankruptcy, into which I may not inquire."

"Good Heavens, they must be mad! I am sure that your father was at the
zenith of his successful career, and as for dishonor, surely, Anita,
no one who knew him could credit that!"

"Mr. Rockamore and the other two who were so closely associated with
him made a solemn promise to my father shortly before his death, it
seems, that they would care for and provide for me. They sent Dr.
Franklin to me this afternoon to explain the circumstances to me, and
to assure me of their protection. Save for you, they consider me
absolutely in their hands; and when I sent for you, you were almost
killed in the atte