quite enough to lay up the average girl for a week, and to wreck her nerves into the bargain.

forgot that she was playing a part; that it might be suicidal to show her hand so early in the game. Fear gripped her throat. Had this man been sent to kill her? If not, then what

. "Move another step, and I'll pin you to that door!" Flash was in her raised hand now, the

is head in her direction. As she was about t

e, Miss Dixon. Please

idge, if that were really his name, spoke the American Dorothy was accustomed to hear, th

ge was beside it. She could just make out

I faint?" sh

your voice-and drink this. I found the aromatic spirits of ammonia in the bathroom. You ne

ack on her pillow. "I got the scare of my life just n

tle you, and especially coming so soon after Mrs. Lawson's-er-visit. I got a shock myself when I saw your white figure by the door just now,

Ashton Sanborn this ev

bear watching. Shortly before that the Doctor had engaged Mrs. Lawson, who is an expert chemist by the way, to take charge of his laboratory. Her husband has been Doctor Winn's secretary since last spring. We thought at that time that Mrs. Lawson might be the myst

knows you're a gov

atter was arranged through an employment agency. Doctor Winn and the

inly a splendid act

etter if you did not know about me until the necessity arose. Mrs. Lawson, he knew would be watching you like a hawk when you arrived. If you had been aware of my identity, your position would only have been more difficult. Sh

. Tell me, how did you fi

communicate with her father in some way. The natural thing to do would be to write a note and slip it in his hand or his pocket, when he came to see her. Martin Lawson was sure he would detect anything of

as I could make out she didn't find anything that interested her particul

ed her new ally. "Janet wrote a

Dorothy in a startled whisper

ard Bright's headphone set, he learned that Janet proposed doing just what this clever pair here figured upon. Of course she had already written the note, and as there was no safe way

tween the two men in the corridor afterward. "All the way up here," she ended, "I pretended I had a grouch. Mr. Lawson tried

our behavior in the flat. You have done most remarkably well, Miss Dixon. O

th me if they discover I am not what I appear to be, Mr. Tu

voice, though barely audible was extremely grave. "They will stop at nothing. When c

y are not what

pair of high class Europ

ddered. "An

ed both in England and in

you find

ized them when I arri

nd there! You knew that they were after the secret of Doct

the magnet that drew the du Vals to this house; but until today we had

probably intend to sell it to the orga

right, Mi

t you arrest t

ow the group exists and for no good purpose, but what their definite object may be we still have no means of telling. We can

t the formula been stolen before this? Th

ay that by tomorrow afternoon the work would be finished, and that h

you ex

sons will make their a

e in on this busine

ans from Doctor Winn's safe b

sharply. "That's a

rse you'll have the co

ng to give i

person, for that matter-at any time. I'll get it to you with exact instructions ju

has it occurred to you that if I steal t

several

e Lawsons can get them, how are you goi

he original documents where you found them. This is a safety-firs

"Why not put the old gentleman wise? After all, it's his formula, and if he

sives, he's the most nervous man I've ever met. He'd give the whole show away. No, that's out of the question. Doctor Winn must be kept in ignorance of the whole proceeding. And now

Dorothy sprang out of bed and

t passage, Mr. Tunbridge,

"It works this way. Press your foot on the board in the farthest right

etective-butler snapped on his flashlight she saw that

inside the big fireplace in the hall. To open the panel down there you press a button under the

re of these passa

houses were honeycombed with priest holes, secret passages and whatnot. And Doctor Winn had his architect copy the orig

d Dorothy sleepily. "Then I'm simply t

s she is beautiful. If you had never heard of that meeting in the Jordans' flat, it would be much bett

ht, Mr. T

er of impersonating her cousin was not going to prove to be the easy job she had fancied. A slip on her part now would

g circular staircase curved round and round her bedroom, and that Mrs