l his rage. "Yes, I know it," he replied,
savagely. "That confession would cause a great deal of trouble."

Low as they were talking, they would have been even more careful had
they known that Locke was listening outside and that, even as they
turned to leave the strong-room, he had sidled out of the way and was
rejoining Eva in the library.

Locke had scarcely told Eva what he had heard when she moved over to the
safe and would have tried to open it had he not stopped her. For he had
heard the other two coming from the cellar, and even as it was they were
at the hall door.

"My dear," remarked Balcom as he entered and went to Eva, "since your
father is not likely to recover, I must ask you to transfer all the
company papers from his private safe to the office of the company."

Eva did not respond to the fatherly manner assumed by Balcom. Instead
she almost point-blank refused to do as he had requested.

Just then Locke, whom Balcom had almost ignored up to the present, heard
the noise of some one coming through the conservatory. It was Paul
Balcom, his coat on his arm, his sleeves rolled up, and a tennis-racquet
in his hand, as he had come just from the courts.

Paul glanced surlily at Locke, who bowed pleasantly to him, as well he
might, considering their relative positions in Eva's real affections.
Catching sight of his father with Eva, Paul paused a moment.

It was just at that instant that Balcom had been saying to her: "Why
don't you marry Paul, as you promised your father and me? That would
settle all the difficulties."

Paul had suspected the nature of the conversation, though he approached
as if ignorant of it. Apparently catching the drift, he deftly urged
her, but Eva tactfully changed the subject, greatly to Paul's chagrin
and his father's ill-suppressed anger.

The suspense of the situation was relieved for Eva by the nearer
approach of Locke, who must have had some inkling of what was going on.
Paul and his father exchanged glances as the young chemist and detective
joined Eva, and it was evident that no love toward him was wasted by
either.

"Excuse me," she apologized, walking away with Locke, "but there is
something very important that I must attend to for my father's
interests."

Locke and Eva walked to the safe, while Balcom and Paul watched like
hawks.

A moment later Eva was kneeling before the safe, after giving Locke a
paper which contained the combination numbers to open the bolts.