l take that boy under my wing; and the published reward must
be mine. This cold-hearted brute may have had a hand in it. I'll
watch him night and day, and let the boy get over all his fears.
Inside of a month I'll find that woman, the hack-driver, and perhaps
this lame duck caught in the meshes. I'll lay low for a week, but
that boy and that woman shall tell their story to me alone, and
it's worth a fortune. I fancy I see daylight. It's a case of soft
and easy. Once the boy would be frightened, I would lose this blind
trail forever!"

CHAPTER XII.

THE LONELY PURSUER.

Arthur Ferris was secluded from all callers in his rooms at the
Fifth Avenue Hotel until late on the morning when a million people
read the "featured" details of the mysterious murder of Randall
Clayton.

Exhausted by the mental struggle with his now defiant wife, he
yet retained enough of his cunning to heed Policeman McNerney's
roughly-given advice.

Ferris' rooms were littered with the score of newspapers over
which he had been busied since daybreak, and his breakfast stood
still untasted at his side. He wavered between his desire for
self-protection and his fear of the hard-featured Stillwell.

In his own heart Ferris cared not a whit whether Clayton had been
waylaid by accidental thugs, betrayed at the bank, duped by some
insidious woman, or slain by an inner conspiracy of the employees.

"The money is gone, the cheques will probably be replaced," he
grumbled. "Damn the company's interests! I am glad of their loss.
The Worthington Estate will probably make it good.

"But I must go over and show up. I cannot afford to be suspected
here. God knows what game is on, with Stillwell now as chief of
scouts!"

He had decided to make a brief visit at the office, and to then
visit Stillwell, and resign his vice-presidency, on the ground of
ill-health. "I'll lay off then, watch the game, keep silence, and
frighten them."

The long, weary hours of the night had brought him one consolation.
As he reached for his hat and gloves, he laughed bitterly. "She
may pay a round price to be rid of me, and then I'll keep all her
secrets as well as mine! A kind of armed neutrality!"

At the door, he was confronted by the grave-faced captain of
detectives. "You are wanted, Mr. Ferris, at once, at the company's
office," sharply said the official, with a comprehensive glance at
the room.

"Stillwell is there, and we wish to take your statement. We