ere."

Ryder, Sr., escorted her to the top of the landing and watched her
as she passed down the grand staircase, ushered by the gorgeously
uniformed flunkies, to the front door and the street.

CHAPTER XIII

Shirley entered upon her new duties in the Ryder household two
days later. She had returned to her rooms the evening of her
meeting with the financier in a state bordering upon hysteria. The
day's events had been so extraordinary that it seemed to her they
could not be real, and that she must be in a dream. The car ride
to Seventy-fourth Street, the interview in the library, the
discovery of her father's letters, the offer to write the
biography, and, what to her was still more important, the
invitation to go and live in the Ryder home--all these incidents
were so remarkable and unusual that it was only with difficulty
that the girl persuaded herself that they were not figments of a
disordered brain.

But it was all true enough. The next morning's mail brought a
letter from Mrs. Ryder, who wrote to the effect that Mr. Ryder
would like the work to begin at once, and adding that a suite of
rooms would be ready for her the following afternoon. Shirley did
not hesitate. Everything was to be gained by making the Ryder
residence her headquarters, her father's very life depended upon
the successful outcome of her present mission, and this unhoped
for opportunity practically ensured success. She immediately wrote
to Massapequa. One letter was to her mother, saying that she was
extending her visit beyond the time originally planned. The other
letter was to Stott. She told him all about the interview with
Ryder, informed him of the discovery of the letters, and after
explaining the nature of the work offered to her, said that her
address for the next few weeks would be in care of John Burkett
Ryder. All was going better than she had dared to hope. Everything
seemed to favour their plan. Her first step, of course, while in
the Ryder home, would be to secure possession of her father's
letters, and these she would dispatch at once to Massapequa, so
they could be laid before the Senate without delay.

So, after settling accounts with her landlady and packing up her few
belongings, Shirley lost no time in transferring herself to the more
luxurious quarters provided for her in the ten-million-dollar mansion
uptown.

At the Ryder house she was received cordially and with every mark
of consideration. The housekeeper