was wearing. Then she went to Doctor Q's
assistance and in a jiffy the fire was out. The doctor was furiously
angry at her, and, feeling that she had accomplished all that she might
expect, she expressed her regrets for the accident and went out before
his anger became any worse.

Thus it was that Zita arrived at Brent Rock only a few moments after
Locke, whom she found in the library with Eva, turning over the pages of
the record he had secured at Balcom's.

The record purported to be a record of marriages of Wallace County, New
York, and Locke finally found an entry that read, "Peter Brent and Rita
Dane."

For a moment Zita was stunned. It was her mother's name.

Locke smiled. "Yes, Zita," he said, quietly, "for a moment Eva and I
were surprised, too. But it's a palpable forgery. Balcom has tried to
prove that you and Eva are half-sisters, but look."

He handed her a powerful magnifying-glass and through it the clumsy
forgery stood out in all its crudeness, showing plainly where other
names had been erased and these inserted.

Zita was greatly disappointed, for she had thought that at last she
would establish her identity. Then she remembered the paper she had
hidden in her shoe. She slipped the paper out and handed it to Locke,
who was greatly excited over its importance.

They were still studying it when Locke heard a strange noise, as of
shuffling feet, in the hallway. He jumped to the door, and there, in the
dim light of the stairway leading down to the Graveyard of Genius, he
saw a knot of men carrying another man, who was evidently helpless.
Locke started forward, but they were gone.

Eva hurried up-stairs to her father's room, fearing something was wrong.

"Father's gone!" she cried, despairingly.

Locke threw himself full against the door at the head of the cellar
stairs which the men had slammed shut. He tried to batter it down, but
it was too strongly built. Then he drew his revolver and with the barrel
started to push out the pins from the hinges. He worked feverishly and
succeeded in driving the top pin out. Then, using it as a lever, he was
able to pull the door from its frame.

He dashed down the stairs, but was late by only the fraction of a
second, as a metal hand was just closing the huge door to the Graveyard
of Genius. He fumbled at the secret combination, and as he was doing so
Eva and Zita joined him.

The door swung open and they rushed through. But the place was deserted.

"They