Drew stopped in his stride. "You, Nichols?" he questioned sharply. "Why did you let him in?" "Because I asked Harry to," defended Loris with heat. "I heard the bell ring. I sent the maid downstairs. She came back and told me that a man from the telephone company was waiting to look over the connections. She said that he said that there was trouble with the wires." "I don't believe it!" exclaimed Drew; "that is," he added hastily, "I don't believe there was anything the matter at all. In the light of what Delaney has told me, that fellow came here last night, when some one else named Frosby or Frisby was sent. Now why would he want to take another's place? For one reason only--the same reason that he came here this afternoon. This reason concerns your future health and security. We had one death in this house which followed his first visit. We don't want anything to happen after his second visit." "You are right, Mr. Drew," said Nichols. "I was careless. I went down stairs and talked with the fellow. It was just a few minutes after I arrived from downtown. He seemed so plausible that I asked the Central Office Detective at the door, who gave the permission. It was all my fault, I guess." "Where did this fellow go? What did he do in the house?" "He went into the library and tested the phone there. The connection seemed to be all right. Then he went down stairs and tested the butler's 'phone. The butler had been taken as a material witness by Fosdick. I followed the man. He didn't do anything but test and then talk with Franklin Official--I think it was." "Are you sure he talked over the phone? It's ridiculously easy for a person to hold down the hook and make believe they are talking to most anybody." "I don't know about that, Mr. Drew," said the captain, turning toward Loris. "Did he talk to anybody when he used this 'phone, Miss Stockbridge?" "I believe so, Harry. I really thought he did." Drew furrowed his brows in perplexity. There was no evidence shown that the trouble-man had ever talked with anybody, via wire, from the mansion. He recalled the first appearance of the lineman in the library. That time both calls, to Central, might have been feigned by holding down the hook and speaking into a disconnected transmitter. The man was clever. He knew all there was to be known concerning telephony. "I'm a child," the detective concluded, swinging about the room in perplexity. "One thing," he added aloud to Loris and Nichols. "One thing! We are absolutely alone in this part of the house. I have locked the maid in her room. No one can get through the door to the hall. There's a spring lock on it. Delaney closed it when he went out." "And there's a score of detectives scattered about," said the captain reassuringly, as he leaned toward Loris. "Why should we fear anything at all?"