t to welcome him.

Pennington Wise went West, to see the relatives of Blair, for it had
frequently been his experience that such inquiries into a man's early
life brought about useful knowledge.

This left Zizi in a position of responsibility, to keep watch of
developments and to learn what she could from them.

She was not so sure as Julie of Thorpe's innocence, but she meant to
find another suspect if one could be found, and she redoubled her
efforts.

Zizi had become a welcome guest in the Thorpe household, and they all
admired and loved her. A most adaptable little piece, she fitted into
the family as if she belonged there, and she and Julie were warm
friends.

She said nothing of the midnight intruder, being determined in her own
mind, that he was an emissary from the medium, Madame Parlato, whom Zizi
regarded as an absolute fake. To prove this was a desire of Zizi's mind
as well as to solve the mystery of the Blair murder.

But her fondness for the Cranes was such, that she was not sure she
should expose the medium's trickery, even if she discovered it herself.
So she went on with her secret investigations, and at present they
included an inquiry into the matter of that reporter's visit and John
Harrison's appearance on the scene.

Zizi had, of course, read Benjamin Crane's book, and in it had seen the
picture of Peter, but the portrait was so different in effect from the
bearded man whom she saw but indistinctly by the dim light in the
library that she never connected the two in her thoughts.

But she thoroughly believed that the man in the library had come there
for the purpose of acquiring either information or materials for further
manifestations of the medium. She was sure that the tobacco pouch and
the handkerchief which had been "materialized" had been obtained in this
way and, she argued, the best way to find out, was to remain silent as
to John Harrison's call.

When told by Mr. Crane of the visit of Douglas, the reporter, Zizi had
suspected something beneath the surface,--it did not seem plausible to
her, that the case was just as it was stated.

And somehow, in the back of her astute little brain, she had a notion
that the Blair murder and the supernatural manifestations were in some
way connected, at least, indirectly.

So she was merely receptive, and put herself in the way of learning all
she could of the medium's affairs without showing her own hand. She
obtained a detailed account of