quiet--if he manages, first, to shut up the
people here, so that the whole story doesn't come out."

"Can he do that, now that they've seen that letter?"

"I'm half afraid he can. He's got a tremendous lot of money, you see,
and this is a time when he naturally wouldn't hesitate much about
spending it. And I don't know that it's such a bad thing. It gives us
a starting point, you see. And if the thing isn't made public, he may
get more reckless, and give us another chance to land him where he
belongs, and that's in the penitentiary. He's cleared out now and we
couldn't persuade these people to go after him, even if it was worth
while, which I don't believe it is."

"How on earth did you get down?" Eleanor asked Bessie.

"Oh, I saw there wasn't anything else to do," said Bessie, modestly.
"If you could have seen that man's face! I was terribly frightened. I
didn't know what he might be going to do to Mr. Jamieson, so I just
knew I had to get help. And I was afraid to call out of the window."

"Why? Someone would have been sure to hear you," said Eleanor.

"Because I thought the only person who was absolutely sure to hear me
was that man who was tying Mr. Jamieson up. And I didn't know what he
would do, but I was afraid he might do something dreadful right away if
I called out and he knew that he was being watched."

"You're all right, Bessie!" said Jamieson, admiringly. "Was it very
hard, going down the waterspout?"

"No, it really wasn't. Dolly was afraid I was going to fall, and she
wanted to go herself. But I said I had seen it, and made the plan, and
so I had a right to be the one to go. It really wasn't so far."

"Far enough," said Jamieson, grimly. "You might easily have broken
your neck, climbing down three flights that way."

"Oh, but it wasn't three! It was only one. You see, there was a
balcony outside the window, and on the next floor there was another,
and I thought that window was pretty sure to be open. It was, so I got
inside, and then I found the room I was in was empty, and the door was
open, so all I had to do was to walk down the stairs and tell the
manager. They all came up and, well, you know what happened then
yourself."

"I certainly do!" said Jamieson. "And I don't think I'm likely to
forget it very soon, either. That was a pretty tough character. I'll
remember his face, all right."

"Well," said Eleanor, happily, "all's well that ends well, they say. I
really