ter go home at once," Mrs. Morton said. "Ruth is in
no condition to do any more work to-day."

"I quite agree with you about going, Mrs. Morton, but not home." He
lowered his voice, as though fearing that even at that moment some tool
of the woman who was sending the letters might be within earshot. "I
suggest that you let me take your daughter to some quiet hotel. You can
follow, with her maid and the necessary baggage, later on. But we must
be certain to make the change in such a way that our enemies, who are
undoubtedly watching us, will not know of it. We will all leave here in
your car, giving out that we are going to your home. No one will suspect
anything to the contrary. On our arrival in the city, your daughter and
I will leave the car, and drive to the hotel in a taxicab. When, later
on, you follow with the baggage, take a taxi, sending your own car to
the garage. I know your confidence in your chauffeur, but in this affair
we can afford to trust no one. Your daughter and yourself can remain
quietly in the hotel, under an assumed name, for a few days, until she
recovers her strength. Meanwhile, I have every expectation that the
persons at the bottom of this shameful affair will have been caught."

The plan appealed to Mrs. Morton at once, and she told the detective so.

"But where shall we go to--what hotel?" she asked.

Duvall leaned over and whispered in her ear the name of an exclusive and
very quiet hotel in the upper part of the city.

"Do not mention the name to anyone," he said, "not even to the taxicab
driver, when you leave the house. Tell him to put you down at the
corner, a block away, and do not proceed to the hotel until you see that
he has driven off. And keep your eyes on your maid. I do not suspect
her, I admit, but there seems to be a leak somewhere, and we must stop
it."

Mrs. Morton nodded, and rose.

"We had better start, then," she said. "I understand perfectly. Have
Ruth register in the name of Bradley. And I think, Mr. Duvall, if you
can do so, you had better arrange to stop there as well."

"I had intended to do so," the detective replied.

"That will be better." Mrs. Morton led the way to the street.

"You did not intend to go to the showing of your new film at the Grand
to-night, did you?" Duvall asked Ruth, after they had started away from
the studio.

"Yes, I had intended to go," she replied. "I always go to my first
releases. But to-night I do not feel able to do so."