and Mannie slipped into the room. One hand he held up for
silence; with the other he pointed at the folding doors.

"Hush!" he warned them. "He's in there! He says he's come to
call on Vera. She says he's come professionally, and I must
bring him in here. I've shut the door into the parlor, and you
can slip upstairs without his seeing you."

"Upstairs!" gasped Rainey, "not for me!" He appealed to Gaylor
in accents of real alarm. "We must get away from this house," he
declared. "If he finds us here -- " With a gesture of dismay he
tossed his hands in the air. Gaylor nodded. In silence all, save
Mannie, moved into the hall, and halted between the outer and
inner doors of the vestibule. Gaylor turned to Vance. "Are you
going to tell her," he asked, "that he is to be there tonight?"

"He'll tell her himself, now!"

"No," corrected Rainey, "he doesn't know yet there's to be a
seance. Hallowell was writing the note when he left."

"Then," instructed Gaylor, "do not let her know until she
arrives -- until it will be too late for her to back out."

Vance nodded and, waiting until from the back room he heard the
voices of Mannie and Winthrop, he opened the front door and the
two men ran down the steps into the street.

While the conspirators were hidden in the vestibule, Mannie had
opened the folding doors, and invited Winthrop to enter the