m no previous appointment had
been made. He entered the door held open for him by the boy, and so
found himself in Baker's presence.

XXIII

The office was expensively but plainly furnished in hardwoods. A thick
rug covered the floor, easy chairs drew up by a fireplace, several good
pictures hung off the wall. Near the windows stood a small desk for a
stenographer, and a wide mahogany table. Behind this latter, his back to
the light, sat Baker.

The man's sturdy figure was absolutely immobile, and the customary
facetiously quizzical lines of his face had given place to an expression
of cold attention. When he spoke, Bob found that the picturesque diction
too had vanished.

At Bob's entrance, Baker inclined his head coldly in greeting, but said
nothing. Bob deliberately crossed the room and rested his two fists,
knuckle down, on the polished desktop. Baker waited stolidly for him to
proceed. Bob jerked his head toward the stenographer.

"I want to talk to you in private," said he.

The stenographer glanced toward her employer. The latter nodded,
whereupon she gathered a few stray leaves of paper and departed. Bob
looked after her until the door had closed behind her. Then, quite
deliberately, he made a tour of the office, trying doors, peering behind
curtains and portieres. He ended at the desk, to find Baker's eye fixed
on him with sardonic humour. "Melodramatic, useless--and ridiculous," he
said briefly.

"If I have any evidence to give, it will be in court, not in a private
office," replied Bob composedly.

"What do you want?" demanded Baker.

"I have come this far solely and simply to get a piece of information at
first hand. I was told you had threatened to become a blackmailer, and
I wanted to find out if it is true?"

"In a world of contrary definitions, it is necessary to come down to
facts. What do you mean by blackmailer?"

"It has been told me that you intend to aid criminal proceedings against
Mr. Welton in regard to the right-of-way trouble and the 'sugaring' of
Plant."

"Well?"

"And that in order to evade your own criminal responsibility in the
matter you intended to turn state's evidence."

"Well?" repeated Baker.

"It seemed inconceivable to me that a man of your social and business
standing would not only confess himself a petty criminal, but one who
shelters himself by betrayal of his confederate."

"I do not relish any such process," stated Baker formally, "and would
avo