"I wanted to uncover your batteries; to learn what you knew; to
understand your designs. Now that you give me no alternative, I am
compelled to hurt your feelings by declaring myself able to find the one
I seek without the aid of Pauline Potter."

As he speaks the last word he rises to his feet, once more feeling like
himself.

"What would you do now, John Craig?"

"Leave this building, since I was lured here under false pretenses. What
have you done with my companion?"

"The funny little man? Oh, he left here long ago when he learned you had
fallen among old friends," she replies, carelessly.

John remembers something now; it is the sight of Philander Sharpe lying
back in his chair drugged, and therefore he does not credit what the
actress says.

"Will you show me the way out?" he asks.

"I will do more."

She claps her hands together in the oriental way of summoning a servant.

Instantly the curtains move; three men enter the apartment, and John
realizes that Pauline Potter is about to show her teeth.

He draws his figure up, for while not a pugnacious man, he knows how to