"Why, certainly, Mr. Blaine, if I can. Do you mean that they are to
have something to do with your investigation into my father's
affairs?"

"I want them to play detective for me, Miss Lawton. Have you four
girls unemployed at the moment?--Say, for instance, a filing clerk, a
stenographer, a governess and a switchboard operator, who are
sufficiently intelligent and proficient in their various occupations,
to assume such a trust?"

"Why, yes, I--I think we have. I can find out, of course. Where do you
wish to place them?"

"That is the most difficult part of all, Miss Lawton. You must obtain
the positions for them. These three men who stand in _loco parentis_
toward you, as you say, and your spiritual adviser, Dr. Franklin, who
so obviously wishes to ingratiate himself with them, would none of
them refuse a request of this sort from you at this stage of the game,
particularly if they are really engaged in a conspiracy against you.
Go to these four men--Mr. Mallowe first--and tell them that because of
the sudden, complete loss of your fortune, your club must be
disorganized, and beg them each to give one of your girls, special
protegees of yours, a position. Send your filing clerk to Mr. Mallowe,
your most expert stenographer to Mr. Rockamore, your switchboard
operator to Mr. Carlis, and your governess into the household of your
minister. I have learned that he has three small children, and his
wife applied only yesterday at an agency for a nursery governess. The
last proposition may be the most difficult for you to handle, but I
think if you manage to convey to the Reverend Dr. Franklin the fact
that your three self-appointed guardians have each taken one of your
girls into their employ, in order to help them, and that his following
their benevolent example would bring him into closer _rapport_ with
them, no objection will be made--provided, of course, the young woman
is suitable."

"I will try, Mr. Blaine, but of course I can do nothing about that
until to-morrow, as it is so late in the afternoon. However, I can
have a talk with the girls, if they are in now--or would you prefer to
interview them?"

"No, you talk with them first, Miss Lawton, and to-morrow morning
while you are arranging for their positions I will interview them and
instruct them in their primary duties. I will leave you now. Remember
that the girls must be absolutely trustworthy, and the stenographer
who will be placed in the office of Mr. Roc