uch a vile
slander. What do you want to tell me?"

"I was frightened." Dorothy raised brimming eyes to his, pleading excuse
for what she felt must seem lack of faith. "I felt as if the house were
filled with dangerous people. I wanted to see how much they really knew.
I never heard mother speak of the safe in the library. I didn't want to
speak to Tante Lydia. I--"

Gard's heart stood still. "You went to the library and located the
safe--and then?"

"The combination they give is the right one--I opened it with that. Then
I was so terrified that anyone--a wicked person like that--could know so
much about things in our house--I slammed it shut and ran away. I could
not stay in the house another minute. I felt as if I were suffocating."

The sigh that he drew was one of immeasurable relief. "Well, you are
awake now, my dear, and the goblin sha'n't chase you any more. But I'm
greatly troubled about what you tell me, about your having opened the
safe. I want you to come with me now. Is your aunt home? Yes? Well, I'll
telephone my sister to call for her and take her out somewhere. Then
we'll return, and I will take all the responsibility of what I think
it's best to do. One thing is quite evident: your mother's valuables are
not safe, if they haven't already been tampered with and stolen. You
see--well, I'll explain as we go. I'll get rid of Mrs. Mellows first."

A few telephone calls arranged matters, and a message brought his motor
from its neighboring waiting place. "You see," he continued, as the
machine throbbed its way northward, "there are several possibilities.
One is, that this anonymous person is mad. In that case, we can't take
too many precautions. The ingenuity of the insane is proverbial. Then,
this may be a vicious vengeance; someone who hates your splendid mother,
and would hurt her through you. You can see that if you had believed
this detestable story it would have broken her heart. Now such a person,
hoping that you would investigate, would have been quite capable of
stocking your mother's secret compartment with stuff that at the first
glance would have seemed to substantiate the story. You see, they knew
all about the combination and the inner compartment, and they must have
had access to your home. They probably took you for a silly little fool,
full of curiosity, and counted on the shock of falling into their trap
being so great that you would be in no condition to reason matters out;
that you and