If any person speaks to him
before he is locked up, take that person in charge also. He is guilty of
no crime, but a single word from him now will endanger my life."
That was all. It was said and done so quickly that Howard, dazed,
confused and utterly unable to account for anything, was led away
without a protest. Mr. Grimm, musing gently on the stupidity of mankind
in general and the ease with which it is possible to lead even a clever
individual into a trap, if the bait appeals to greed, took a car and
went up town.
Some three hours later he walked briskly along a narrow path strewn with
pine needles, which led tortuously up to an old colonial farmhouse.
Outwardly the place seemed to be deserted. The blinds, battered and
stripped of paint by wind and rain, were all closed and one corner of
the small veranda had crumbled away from age and neglect. In the rear of
the house, rising from an old barn, a thin pole with a cup-like
attachment at the apex, thrust its point into the open above the dense,
odorous pines. Mr. Grimm noted these things as he came along.
He stepped up quietly on the veranda and had just extended one hand to
rap on the door when it was opened from within, and Miss Thorne stood
before him.
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