ling here. . . . What? . . . Nobody on the
wire!"

He set the telephone back on the desk with a bewildered air.

"That's queer!" he exclaimed. "I could have sworn I heard it ring twice,
and--" He stopped abruptly, and, leaning across the desk, hung there,
wide-eyed, staring, while a sickly pallor began to steal into his face.
"The letter!" he mumbled wildly. "The letter--Master Jim's letter--the
letter--it's GONE!"

Trembling, excited, the old man began to search the desk, then down on
his knees on the floor under it; and then, growing more frantic with
every instant, rose and began to hunt around the room in an agitated,
aimless fashion.

Jason's distress was very real--he was almost beside himself now with
fear and anxiety. A whimsical, affectionate smile played over Jimmie
Dale's lips at the old man's antics--and changed suddenly into one of
consternation. Jason was making directly now for the curtain behind
which he stood! Perhaps, though, he would pass it by, and--Jason's hand
reached out and grasped the portiere.

"Jason!" said Jimmie Dale sharply.

The old man staggered back as though he had been struck, tried to speak,
choked, and gazed at the curtain with distended eyes.

"Is--is that you, sir--Master Jim--behind the curtain there?" he finally
blurted out. "I--sir--you gave me a start--and the letter, Master Jim--"

"Don't lose your head, Jason," said Jimmie Dale coolly. "I've got the
letter. Now do as I bid you."

"Yes--Master Jim," faltered the old man.

"Pull down the window shades and draw the portiere together," directed
Jimmie Dale.

Jason, still overwrought and excited, obeyed a little awkwardly.

"Now the lights, Jason," instructed Jimmie Dale. "Turn them off, and go
and sit down in that chair at the desk."

Again Jason obeyed, stumbling in the darkness as he returned from the
electric-light switch at the farther end of the room. He sat down in the
chair.

Larry the Bat stepped out from behind the curtain. "I came for that
letter, Jason," he explained quietly. "I am going out again now. I may
be back to-morrow; I may not be back for a week. You will say nothing,
not a word, of my having been here to-night. Do you understand, Jason?"

"Yes, sir," said Jason; then hesitantly: "Would you mind saying, sir,
when you came in?"

"It's of no consequence, Jason--is it?"

"No, sir," said Jason.

Jimmie Dale smiled in the darkness.

"Jason!"

"Yes, sir."

"I wish you to remain where yo