"There's a very cozy and retired seat in the summer-house," she
informed him. "I wish to have a tete-a-tete with you on a most
important business matter."

"You may have a tete-a-tete with me on any subject whatsoever,"
laughed Loring. "I suppose it's about those Johnny Gamble
attachments, however."

"It's about that exactly," she acknowledged. "What have you learned
of the one for fifty thousand dollars which was attempted to be laid
against Mr. Gamble's interest in that hotel property yesterday?"

"Very little," he confessed. "It is of the same sort as the one we
discussed the other day."

Constance nodded. "Fraudulent, probably," she guessed.

"I think so myself," agreed Loring. "Trouble is, nobody can locate
the Gamble-Collaton books."

"Perhaps they have been destroyed," mused Constance.

"I doubt it," returned Loring. "It would seem the sensible thing to
do; but, through some curious psychology which I can not fathom,
crooks seldom make away with documentary evidence."

"Who is helping Mr. Collaton?" asked Constance abruptly after a
little silence.