n a maid answered it, I
asked for Mr. Sullivan. Of course there was no Mr. Sullivan there.

"I said I was sorry; that the man I was looking for was a new boarder.
She was sure there was no such boarder in the house; the only new
arrival was a man on the third floor--she thought his name was Stuart.

"'My friend has a cousin by that name,' I said. 'I'll just go up and
see.'

"She wanted to show me up, but I said it was unnecessary. So after
telling me it was the bedroom and sitting-room on the third floor front,
I went up.

"I met a couple of men on the stairs, but neither of them paid any
attention to me. A boarding-house is the easiest place in the world to
enter."

"They're not always so easy to leave," I put in, to his evident
irritation.

"When I got to the third story, I took out a bunch of keys and posted
myself by a door near the ones the girl had indicated. I could hear
voices in one of the front rooms, but could not understand what they
said.

"There was no violent dispute, but a steady hum. Then Bronson jerked the
door open. If he had stepped into the hall he would have seen me fitting
a key into the door before me. But he spoke before he came out.

"'You're acting like a maniac,' he said. 'You know I can get those
things some way; I'm not going to threaten you. It isn't necessary. You
know me.'

"'It would be no use,' the other man said. 'I tell you, I haven't seen
the notes for ten days.'

"'But you will,' Bronson said savagely. 'You're standing in your own
way, that's all. If you're holding out expecting me to raise my figure,
you're making a mistake. It's my last offer.'

"'I couldn't take it if it was for a million,' said the man inside the
room. 'I'd do it, I expect, if I could. The best of us have our price.'

"Bronson slammed the door then, and flung past me down the hall.

"After a couple of minutes I knocked at the door, and a tall man about
your size, Mr. Blakeley, opened it. He was very blond, with a smooth
face and blue eyes--what I think you would call a handsome man.

"'I beg your pardon for disturbing you,' I said. 'Can you tell me which
is Mr. Johnson's room? Mr. Francis Johnson?'

"'I can not say,' he replied civilly. 'I've only been here a few days.'

"I thanked him and left, but I had had a good look at him, and I think
I'd know him readily any place."

I sat for a few minutes thinking it over. "But what did he mean by
saying he hadn't seen the notes for ten days? And