CHAPTER V

THE WILL

Henry Blaine sat in his office, leisurely turning over the pages of a
morning newspaper; his attitude was one of apparent idleness, but the
occasional swift glances he darted at the clock and a slight lifting
of his eyebrows at the least sound from without betokened the fact
that he was waiting for some one or something.

His eyes scanned the columns of each page with seeming carelessness,
yet their keen glances missed not one significant phrase. And suddenly
his gaze was transfixed by a paragraph tucked away in a corner of the
second page.

It was merely an account of trouble between capital and labor in a
distant manufacturing city, and a hint of an organized strike which
threatened for the immediate future. The great detective was not at
all a politician, and the social and economic conditions of the day
held no greater import for him than for any other conscientious,
far-seeing citizen of the country, yet he sat for a long moment with
wrinkled brow and pursed lips, musing, while the newspaper dropped
unheeded upon the desk.

His reverie was suddenly interrupted by the sharp, insistent tinkling
of the telephone; a clear, girlish voice came to him over the wire:

"Is this Grosvenor 0760? This is Miss Lawton speaking. An alteration
must be made at once in that last gown you sent me, and it is
imperative that I see you in person concerning it. It will be
inconvenient for me to have you come here this morning. Where shall I
see you? At your establishment or--"

She paused suggestively, and he replied with a hurried question.

"It is absolutely necessary, Miss Lawton, that you see me in person?
You are quite sure?"

"Absolutely." Her voice held a ring of earnestness and something more
which caused him to jump to a lightning-like decision.

"Very well. I will meet you in twenty minutes at your Working Girls'
Club. I am an architect, remember, and you wish to build a new and
more improved institution of the same order on another site.
Therefore, you have met me there to show me over the old building and
suggest changes in its plans for the new one. You understand, Miss
Lawton? My name is Banks, remember, and--be a few minutes late."

"I understand perfectly. Thank you. Good-by."

The receiver at the other end of the line clicked abruptly, and the
detective sprang to his feet.

A quarter of an hour later Blaine presented himself at the Anita
Lawton Club, where a trim maid ush