ght and why you needed the money so suddenly?"

"No, I will not. That is a matter which concerns, me alone."

"Very well! As it happens I do not base my charge on the letter; I had
already formed my opinion before I knew of its existence. Do you deny
that you yourself have encouraged the belief in the ghost among the
negroes? That on more than one occasion, you, or your accomplice,
Cat-Eye Mose, have masqueraded as the ghost? That, while you were
pretending to Colonel Gaylord to be as much puzzled by the matter as he,
you were in truth at the bottom of the whole business?"

Radnor glanced uneasily at me and hesitated before replying.

"No," he said at length, "I don't deny that, but I do affirm that it
has nothing to do with the robbery."

The detective laughed.

"You must excuse me, Mr. Gaylord, if I stick to the opinion that I have
solved the puzzle."

He turned with a motion toward the house, and Radnor barred the
entrance.

"Do you think I lie when I say I know nothing of those bonds?"

"Yes, Mr. Gaylord, I do."

For a moment I thought that Radnor was going to strike him, but I pulled
him back and turned to Clancy.

"He knows nothing about the bonds," said I, "but nevertheless you must
not take any such story to Colonel Gaylord. He is an old man, and while
he would not believe his son guilty of theft, still it would worry him.
There is something else that happened that night--entirely
uncriminal--but which we do not wish him to hear about. Therefore I am
not going to let you go to him with this nonsensical tale that you have
cooked up."

This was a trial shot on my part but it hit the bull's-eye. Radnor
stared but said nothing; and the detective visibly wavered.

"Now," I added, taking out my checkbook, "suppose I pay you what you
would have received had you discovered the bonds, and dispense with your
further services?"

"That's just as you say. I feel that I've done the job and am entitled
to the money. If you wish to pay it, all right; otherwise I get it from
Colonel Gaylord. I received a retaining fee and was to have two hundred
dollars more when I located the bonds. In order not to stir up any bad
feeling I'm willing to take that two hundred dollars from you and drop
the matter."

"It's blackmail!" said Radnor.

"Keep still, Rad," I said. "It's very accommodating of Mr. Clancy to see
it this way."

I wrote out a check and tossed it to the detective.

"Now go to Colonel Gaylord," I said,