herself into her robe. Somebody might be down there in old Dr. Phelps's
offices right now.

And that somebody, of course, in 'Phemie's mind, meant just one
person--Professor Lemuel Judson Spink.

Why had he come to Hillcrest to board, anyway? And why hadn't he gone away
when he had been made the topic of many a joke about old Bob Harrison's
treasure trove?

For nearly a fortnight now the professor had stood grimly the jokes and
laughing comments aimed at him by the other boarders. The presence of Mrs.
Harrison, too, in the house, was a constant reminder to the breakfast food
magnate of how his own acquisitiveness had made him over-reach himself.

'Phemie went downstairs, taking a comforter with her, and went into
the long corridor leading from the west wing entry to the green door.
The girls had never taken the old davenport out of this wide hall, and
'Phemie curled up on this--with its hard, hair-cloth-covered arm for a
pillow--spread the quilt over her, and tried to compose her nerves here
within sight and sound of the east wing entrance.

Suppose somebody was already in the offices?

The thought became so insistent that, after ten minutes, she was forced
to creep along to the green door and try the latch.

With her hand on it, she heard a sudden sound from the room nearby. Was
somebody astir in the Colesworth quarters?

This was late Saturday night--almost midnight, in fact; and of course
Harris Colesworth was in the house. Sometimes he read until very late.

So 'Phemie turned again, after a moment, and lifted the latch. Then she
pushed tentatively on the door, and----

_It swung open!_

'Phemie gasped--an appalling sound it seemed in the stillness of the
corridor and at that hour of the night.

Often, while the key had been in her possession, she had tried the door as
she passed it while working about the house. It had been securely locked.

Then, she told herself now, on the instant, the key had been found and it
had been put to use. Somebody had already been in the old doctor's offices
and had ransacked the rooms.

She crossed the threshold swiftly and groped her way to the door of the
second room--the old doctor's consulting room. Here the light of the moon
filtered through the shutters sufficiently to show her the place.

There seemed to be nobody there, and she stepped in, leaving the green
door open behind her, but pulling shut the door between the anteroom and
the office.

There was the o