ve been aroused in the
minds of Mallowe and his associates by the fact that I accepted the
astounding news of the bankruptcy as unquestioningly as Miss Lawton
herself, unless they thought me an addlepated fool--but I didn't want
to go ahead without direct instructions from you."

"I did not so direct you, Mr. Hamilton, for a distinct purpose. I
wished the men we believe to be responsible for the present conditions
to be slightly puzzled by your attitude, so that when the time came
for you to begin your investigation, they would be more completely
reassured. In order to make your questioning absolutely bona fide, I
want you to go first this morning to the office of Anderson & Wallace,
the late Mr. Lawton's attorneys, and question them as if having come
with Miss Lawton's authority. Don't suggest any suspicion of there
being any crookedness at work, but merely inquire as fully as possible
into the details of Mr. Lawton's business affairs. They will, in their
replies, undoubtedly bring in Mr. Mallowe, Mr. Rockamore and Mr.
Carlis, which will give you a cue to go quite openly and frankly to
one of the three--preferably Mallowe--for corroboration. Knowing that
you come direct from the late Mr. Lawton's attorneys, he will be only
too glad to give you whatever information he may possess or may have
concocted--and so lay open to you his plan of defense."

"Defense? You think, then, Mr. Blaine, that they anticipate possible
trouble--exposure, even? Surely such astute, far-seeing men as Mallowe
and Rockamore are, at least, would not have attempted such a gigantic
fraud if they'd anticipated the possibility of being discovered!
Carlis has weathered so many storms, so many attacks upon his
reputation and civic honor, that he may have felt cocksure of his
position and gone into this thing without thought for the future, but
the other two are men of different caliber, men with everything in the
world to lose."

"And colossal, unearned wealth to gain--don't forget that, Mr.
Hamilton. Men of different caliber, I grant you, but all three in the
same whirlpool of crime, bound by thieves' law to sink or swim
together. It is because they are astute and far-seeing that they must
inevitably have considered the possibility of exposure and safeguarded
themselves against it with bogus corroborative proof. If that proof is
in tangible form, and we can lay our hands on it, we shall have them
where we want them. Now go back to your office, Mr.