"No, chief, I'll work it out myself. But I'll say this much, I've got a hold on nearly every man in the Tri-State Trust Company, the Interstate also. There are things to be done, things to be sworn to, and only I know how...." He withdrew his hand. "The question is, Wilkinson," he went on, "am I to get good pay?... This thing is more serious than you think. It won't blow over, take my word for it. A million people in three States are up in arms; what's more, District Attorney Murgatroyd is up in arms, too." "You get paid well enough, Flomerfelt, I should think." "Not well enough," he declared. And again his thoughts went aloft to the daughter of his chief. Wilkinson touched a button; in silence the two men waited for it to be answered. In a somewhat irritated manner Wilkinson touched it again, and thundered out: "What's become of the servants?" Flomerfelt leaned over in alarm. "The wires--the wires are cut!" he exclaimed. "The telephone is disconnected," he went on, his face growing ashen with the fear and mystery of it all. Wilkinson's excitement was evidenced by the manner in which he shook his finger in the other's face, called him a fool, and ordered him to go and fetch the servants that they might explain how the thing occurred. And he ended with: "Go now, be quick about it!" At the door, Flomerfelt stopped. In the entrance was Leslie. "These wires have been tampered with!" he cried out to her. "Does anybody in this house know how?" Leslie ignored the question, but instead she said: "Mrs. Wilkinson wishes to speak with you, Mr. Flomerfelt. You will find her upstairs, in her boudoir." Flomerfelt bowed. "I'll go up with you at once," he told her; but Leslie shook her head. "No, you'd better go alone. I know about the wires. I came down expressly to tell father about them." Flomerfelt reddened with annoyance, nevertheless he started to leave the room. "I say," called out Wilkinson after him, "tell those Pinkertons to drive Ilingsworth away down-town--take him to any place he wants to go, set him loose. If he runs away, you understand, it will be all the better for us. And if he doesn't, it will be all the worse for him." "I'll take care of it, Mr. Wilkinson," said Flomerfelt, adopting the prefix that he used in the presence of a third party. "The plan is yours; the details belong to me." With considerable trepidation Leslie approached her father. "You're not going to set that Mr. Ilingsworth free!" she begged. "Father, don't do it! He's dangerous! I told you he had murder in his mind--I saw it to-day." Little by little Wilkinson drew from her the whole story, with the exception of her father's terrible arraignment by Giles Ilingsworth; and that, for reasons of her own, she left out of her recital. "Come, come," demanded Wilkinson, shrewdly reading his daughter's face, "you haven't told me everything! I want to know the rest." The girl looked away as she said falteringly: