"Oh, he is so rough and strong--he may hurt Ralph," whispered Tavia, too frightened to trust her own voice. It seemed a long time to the girls, but Ralph was back in the room with them in a very few minutes. "There was no one in the hall," he said, "and I looked up and down the street. No one--no stranger seemed to be in sight." "Well, I was just coming up the stairs, and I couldn't see from the sun, when some one grabbed me," Tavia explained. "Oh, Tavia!" interrupted Dorothy. "Yes, indeed, a great big horrid man, with a hat over his eyes, and oh, he was dreadful!" and poor Tavia began to tremble again. Ralph had his coat on now. That man should not get away! "But you can't leave us," begged the girls. "He might break the door in." "Then come down stairs and we will lock up. I must telephone to Squire Sanders." "He isn't home," Tavia declared. "I saw him drive out as I went up William Street." But Ralph insisted on giving the alarm. "What did he say to you?" he asked. "Why, he must have thought I was Dorothy. I saw him first just as I turned out of the Douglass' place, and he followed me all the way. At the lane--where it was really lonely--he called to me and I stopped. He said 'Where are you going?' I told him to the Bugle office. I didn't think anything of it. I am never afraid. Then he got nearer to me--" "Why didn't you run?" asked Dorothy. "Why, I never thought of such a thing. I thought maybe he was coming here with some news. Even when he started up the dark stairs after me I wasn't afraid. But when he grabbed me--" "Oh!" screamed Dorothy. "Yes, and he said: 'See here, Miss Dale, if you put one line in print about that old woman being dead--I'll blow the place up.'" "He must be a crank," said Ralph. "Such people always drift into newspaper offices." "Oh, no, I am sure he meant it, for he grabbed my notes. He saw me reading them in the lane," Tavia paused an instant. "And really, poor Mrs. Douglass was a good woman. The servant girl told me how she had worked for that Miles Burlock,--she had some special interest in him,--and you know how he drinks." Unfortunately every one in Dalton knew only too well how Miles Burlock drank. Ralph had often helped him home, and then tried to get the man to talk of reformation, but it seemed like a hopeless case. "Why should that strange man want the paper to keep quiet about Mrs. Douglass?" asked Dorothy. "Something about Burlock, perhaps," Ralph answered, thoughtfully. "This man may be in with the drinking class, and perhaps if Burlock read anything or heard it, somehow he might go to the Douglass house, and they say Death is a great teacher. I know Mrs. Douglass often befriended Burlock." "Then let him blow the office up!" cried Dorothy, with sudden courage. "Father never listened to threats! Tavia, can you remember some of the important facts? Quiet yourself and think it over." CHAPTER III A STRANGE ADVENTURE