The man whom he addressed shrugged his shoulders slightly, and glanced at his subordinate. "That’ll do, Billy," he said. "Just wait in the hall outside." When the fellow had departed, he closed the door, and turned again to the Harvard man. He still held the automatic in his hand, but Barry observed that it was no longer covering him. "Now, don’t get in a stew," the detective said. "An hour or so of this ain’t going to hurt you any." "It’s outrageous!" Lawrence exclaimed angrily. "Here I’m giving a theater party to-night, and have the tickets in my pocket. What do you suppose my friends will think when I don’t show up? If you don’t smart for this, it won’t be my fault, I can tell you!" "Keep your shirt on," drawled the detective. "Losing your temper won’t help you." He strolled over to the wooden mantelshelf, and leaned one elbow negligently on it, idly snapping the switch of the pocket flash light on and off. "So you really don’t know what you’re wanted for?" he went on, in a semijocose tone. "I haven’t the faintest idea," Barry answered. "That’s rich," chuckled the other, laying the pocket battery on the mantel. "Not a thing lying heavy on your conscience, I s’pose?" "There is not!" Lawrence retorted sharply. "And I’ll tell you this: You’ve made one big mistake, and I should hate awfully to be in your shoes when I tell my story in a station house or courtroom. If you’re on the regular force—which I doubt very much—you’ll be broken into little bits. If you’re just a private citizen from one of these bureaus, you’d better make plans for skipping the country, for I give you my word I mean to push this to the limit." The flash of worried doubt which swept across the detective’s face, and was gone in an instant, was all Barry needed to confirm the suspicion which had been growing in his mind for the past few minutes. The fellow did not know what his prisoner was wanted for. That was one of the reasons why he had remained in the room. What was the motive of these apparently casual hints and questions. He did not know, and he was beginning to be very anxious to find out. Probably he had been hired to kidnap Lawrence, and bring him to this house without being told anything definite as to Barry’s supposed misdoings, beyond a vague tale of some lawlessness said to have been committed abroad. It would be simply a waste of valuable time to linger longer here trying to learn the impossible, and Lawrence had no wish to stay until the arrival of his real enemies. He was intensely curious to meet them face to face, and find out something of the cause of the extraordinary persecution, but he much preferred choosing his own time and place. "I think before this time to-morrow," Barry went on swiftly, "that you’ll be mighty sorry you ever undertook the case."