situation
now."

"I do," responded the detective quietly. "I have accepted the case."

"But surely you will withdraw?" The older man's voice rose cholerically.
"Miss Lawton is a mere girl, a minor, in fact--"

"I am over eighteen, Mr. Mallowe," interposed Anita quietly.

"Until your proper guardian is appointed by the courts," Mallowe
cried, "you are nominally under my care, mine and others of your
father's closest associates. This is a delicate matter to discuss now,
Mr. Blaine," he added, in calmer tones, turning to the detective, "but
since this seems to be a business interview, we must touch upon the
question of finances. I know that the fee you naturally require must
be a large one, and I am in duty bound to tell you that Miss Lawton
has absolutely no funds at her disposal to reimburse you for your time
and trouble. Whatever fortune she may be possessed of, she cannot
touch now."

"Miss Lawton has already fully reimbursed me--in advance," returned
Henry Blaine calmly. "That question need cause you no further concern,
Mr. Mallowe, nor need you have any doubt as to my position in this
matter. I'm on this case, and I'm on it to stay! I'm going to find
Ramon Hamilton!"

CHAPTER XVI

THE LIBRARY CHAIR

"Paddington's on the run!" Ross, the operative, announced to Henry
Blaine the next morning, jubilantly. "He left his rooms about an
hour after I got back on the job, and went to Carlis' office.
He only stayed a short time, and came out looking as black
as a thunder-cloud--I guess the interview, whatever it was,
didn't go his way. He went straight from there to Rockamore, the
promoter. I pretended an errand with Rockamore, too, and so got into
the outer office. The heavy glass door was closed between, and I
couldn't hear anything but a muffled growling from within, but they
were both angry enough, all right. Once the stenographer went in and
came out again almost immediately. When the door opened to admit her,
I heard Paddington fairly shout:

"'It's your own skin you're saving, you fool, as well as mine! If I'm
caught, you all go! Carlis thinks he can bluff it, and Mallowe's a
superannuated, pig-headed old goat. He'll try to stand on his
reputation, and cave in like a pricked balloon when the crash comes. I
know his kind; I've hounded too many of 'em to the finish. But you're
a man of sense, Rockamore, and you know you've got to help me out of
this for your own sake. I tell you, some one's on to the