f her distraught
mind--or, if it actually occurred (a fact of which you have no proof),
Miss Lawton admits, by the words she has just uttered, that she did
not see the mysterious visitor, but is attempting to identify me as
that person merely by the tones of my voice. She has made no
accusation against me until this moment, yet since her father's death
she has heard my voice almost daily for several weeks. Come, Blaine,
listen to reason! Your case has tumbled about your ears! You can only
avoid serious trouble for both Miss Lawton and yourself by dropping
this absurd matter here and now."

"It is true that I did not recognize your voice before, but I have not
until now heard it raised in anger as it was that night--" began
Anita, but Blaine silenced her with a gesture.

"And the bottle of prussic acid which was found yesterday hidden in
the chair where just now you searched for it?" he demanded, sternly.
"The incontrovertible evidence, proved late last night by an autopsy
upon the body of Pennington Lawton, which shows that he came to his
death by means of that poison--how do you account for these facts,
Rockamore?"

"I do not propose to account for them, whether they are facts or
not," returned the other man, coolly. "Since I know nothing
whatever about them, they are beyond my province. Unless you wish
to bring ruin upon yourself, and unwelcome notoriety and possibly an
official inquiry into her sanity upon Miss Lawton, you will not
repeat this incredible accusation. Only my very real sympathy for
her has enabled me to listen with what patience I have to the
unparalleled insolence of this charge, but you are going too far. I
see no necessity for further prolonging this interview, and with
your permission I will withdraw--unless, of course," he added,
sneeringly, "you have a warrant for my arrest?"

To Anita's astonishment, Henry Blaine stepped back with a slight shrug
and Rockamore, still with that sarcastic leer upon his lips, bowed low
to her and strode from the room.

"You--you let him go, Mr. Blaine?" she gasped, incredulously. "You let
him escape!"

"He cannot escape." Blaine smiled a trifle grimly. "I'm giving him
just a little more rope, that is all, to see if he will help us secure
the others. His every move is under strict surveillance--for him there
is no way out, save one."

"And that way?" asked Anita.

The detective made no reply. In a few minutes he took leave of her and
proceeded to his offi