ase, when all at once a hubbub arose in his outer office. Usually
quiet and well-ordered, its customary stillness was broken by a
confused, expostulatory murmur of voices, above which rose a strident,
angry bellow, like that of a maddened wild beast. Then a chair was
violently overturned; the sudden sharp sound of a scuffle came to the
detective's listening ears; and the door was dashed open with a jar
which made the massive inkstand upon the desk quiver.

Timothy Carlis stood upon the threshold--Timothy Carlis, his face
empurpled, the great veins upon his low-slanting forehead standing out
like whipcords, his huge, spatulate hands clenched, his narrow, slit
eyes gleaming murderously.

"So you're here, after all!" he roared. "Those d--d fools out there
tried to give me the wrong steer, but I was wise to 'em. You buffaloed
Rockamore, and that senile old idiot, Mallowe, but you can't bluff me!
I came here to see you, and I usually get what I go after!"

"Having seen me, Carlis, will you kindly state your business and go?
This promises to be one of my busiest days. What can I do for you?"
Blaine leaned back in his chair, with a bland smile of pleased
expectancy.

"It ain't what you _can_ do; it's what you're _goin'_ to do, and no
mistake about it!" the other glowered. "You're goin' to keep your
mouth shut as tight as a trap, and your hands off, from now on! Oh,
you know what I mean, right enough. Don't try to work the surprised
gag on me!"

He added the latter with a coarse sneer which further distorted his
inflamed visage. Blaine, with an expression of sharp inquiry, had
whirled around in his swivel chair to face his excited visitor, and as
he did so, his hand, with seeming inadvertence, had for an instant
come in contact with the under ledge of his desk-top.

"I'm afraid, much as I desire not to prolong this unexpected
interview, that I must ask you to explain just what it is that I must
keep my hands off of, as you say. We will go into the wherefore of it
later."

Carlis glanced back of him into the empty hallway, then closed the
door and came forward menacingly.

"What's the good of beating about the bush?" he demanded, in a fierce
undertone. "You know d--n' well what I mean: you're butting in on the
Lawton affair. You've bitten off more than you can chew, and you'd
better wise yourself up to that, here and now!"

"Just what is the Lawton affair?"

"Oh, stow that bluff! You know too much already, and if I