er alone. At first I saw
nothing. The only light in the room came from a dying moon. I had been
nervous for several nights, fearing an attempt on Mr. Alsop. I never
could get him to take that very seriously until to-day. At any rate,
after a long time, I saw this figure that Mr. Alsop describes. It did
not seem to come from anywhere."

He commenced to pace up and down the room. There was about the sudden
gesture of his hand a despairing belief that shocked Garth.

"The thing--white veil and all--seemed to materialize out of nothing. It
moved softly about the room as if searching--searching. I thought of the
letters on my desk. I called out instinctively, 'Who's there?' There was
no reply. The figure did not hurry. It stepped behind a screen by the
fireplace. I sprang up and went there. I couldn't believe the evidence
of my eyes. There was no one--nothing behind the screen. I examined the
door. It was locked as I had left it, with the key on the inside. There
was no way in or out of that room. Yet the veiled woman had been there,
and had gone, leaving no trace."

"The windows," Garth said, "or the fireplace?"

Marvin shook his head.

"The windows were scarcely open, and a fire burned in the fireplace.
And, mind you, this was before Mr. Alsop had seen the woman. I mean, he
had not suggested the vision to me. The same thing happened last night.
That figure came searching and disappeared in the same impossible way. I
knew I wasn't dreaming then. I spoke of it to Mr. Alsop. It frightens
me. I want an explanation of that."

"Catch your enemies and you'll catch your ghost," Garth said drily. "I'd
like a shot at both."

"What you want," the inspector said to Alsop and Marvin, "is protection
for yourselves and your distinguished guests. What the police want is to
catch these fellows red-handed. We'll try to fit the two things. Don't
lose your nerve. Go ahead with your conference, and trust Garth to find
out how your veiled woman gets in and out of the house and through
locked doors. I should say if we find her we should have the brains of
the conspiracy. There may be no danger for you to-night. We've only
Brown's post card to go on. That looks serious, and I'll do my best to
protect you. But you must give me every chance to nab these birds. This
sort of thing's getting too bold. There's too much foreign propaganda in
this country. It would please me to throw the fear of Uncle Sam into
such people."

And when Nora had g