The two squirmed their way to where Fancy was standing, and accompanied her off the boat. At the entrance to the ferry building the medium took his leave. Cayley and Fancy had dinner together, after which, urging an engagement, he put her aboard her car and walked down Market Street to the "Hospital." Vixley was there, waiting for him, sitting at a side table, regarding an enormous painting of a nude over the bar. His quick eye caught Cayley as he entered and drew him on. For the rest of the interview they did not leave the young man’s face. *CHAPTER XII* *THE FIRST TURNING TO THE RIGHT* "All I got to say is this," said Madam Spoll, "if you know what’s best for yourself, you won’t make no enemies." "I scarcely think you can hurt me much," said Granthope, losing interest in the discussion, as he saw he could make no way with her. "We can’t, can’t we? We know a whole lot more about you than you’d care to have told, Frank Granthope. Since I seen you last, things have developed with Payson, and now we’re in a position to say to you, look out for yourself. Payson’s stock has went up some. We’ve got inside information that’s valuable." "Then you don’t need me, surely." "We need you to keep your mouth shut, if nothing else." "You mean not to tell Mr. Payson anything? I would if I thought I could make him listen." "Tell _him_? Lord, you can tell him till you’re black in the face, and he wouldn’t believe it—not till you tell him where we got our information. Why, if he caught me at the keyhole of his room, he wouldn’t suspect anything. We’ve got the goods to deliver this time, don’t you fool yourself. Payson’s a ten-to-one shot all right. All we want to be sure of now is the girl you’re trying to marry." "I’m not trying to marry her," said Granthope bitterly. "That’s lucky for you!" "Why?" he demanded suspiciously. Madam Spoll spoke very slowly and deliberately without asperity, "Because if you _should_ be fool enough to try it on your own hook without helping us out in our game, why, we’d have to show you up to her. I know a little too much about you, Frank Granthope, for you to throw me down as easy as that. You can’t exactly set yourself up for a saint, you know; there’s the Bennett affair and one or two more like it. Then, again, there’s Fancy Gray and several others like _that_. It’ll add up to a pretty tidy scandal, if the Payson girl should happen to hear about it all; and if not her, there’s others that it won’t do you any good to have know." Granthope shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, looking calmly at the medium. Her face was as placid and unwrinkled as his. She showed not the slightest trace of vindictiveness, talking as though discussing some impersonal business arrangement. "Then I am to understand that you threaten me with blackmail?"