tely to your room?"

"Yes. I closed my door and buried my face deeply in the pillows on my
bed. I did not want to hear or know any more. I was frightened; I did
not know what to think. After a time I must have drifted off into an
uneasy sort of sleep, for I knew nothing more until my maid came to
tell me that Wilkes, the butler, wished to speak to me. My father had
been found dead in his chair. No one in the household seemed to know
of my father's late visitor, for they made no mention of his coming. I
would have told no one, except Ramon, but for the fact that this
afternoon my minister informed me that my father, instead of being the
multi-millionaire we had all supposed him, had in reality died a
bankrupt."

The detective received this information with inscrutable calm. Only by
a thoughtful pursing of his lips did he give indication that the news
had any visible effect upon him.

Anita continued, giving him all the details of the minister's visit,
and the magnanimous promise of her father's three associates to stand
in _loco parentis_ toward her.

It was only when she told of summoning her lover, and the accident
which befell him on his way to her, that that peculiar gleam returned
again to the eyes of Mr. Blaine, and they glanced narrowly at the
young man opposite him.

"As I told Ramon, I cannot help but feel that it is not true. My
father could not have become a pauper, much less could he, the soul of
honor, have been guilty of anything derogatory to his good name. Until
a few days prior to his death, he had been in his usual excellent
spirits, and surely had there been any financial difficulties in his
path he would have retrenched, in some measure. He made no effort to
do so, however, and in the last few weeks has given even more
generously than usual to the various philanthropic projects in which
he was so interested. Does that look as if he was on the verge of
bankruptcy? He bought me a string of pearls on my birthday, two months
ago, which for their size are considered by experts to be the most
perfectly matched in America. A fortnight ago, he presented me with a
new car. Only three days before his death he spoke of an ancient
chateau in France which he had desired to purchase. Oh, the whole
affair is utterly inexplicable to me!"

"We will take the matter up at once, Miss Lawton. The main thing that
I must impress upon you for the present is to acquiesce with the
utmost docility and unsuspicion in eve