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ARRY ODELL crept to the drawing-room door and peered cautiously out into the hall. The pretty girl was struggling to free herself from her aunt, whose hand was clapped across her mouth and who held her in a firm clasp. Cissie's young virility, though, was more than a match for the frail, middle-aged woman, and Miss Meade all at once relaxed and stepped back.

"The young man whom Mr. Titheredge brought from police headquarters this morning is in the drawing-room now," she announced; and as Odell hastily drew back he caught the veiled warning in her tone. "I am sure that he will not permit you to go until he has had an opportunity to talk with you; and certainly you shall not leave this house without telling either your stepfather or me where you are going."

"Why, Aunt Effie!" The utter stupefaction in the girl's tones betrayed clearly the fact that her aunt's new-found assertiveness was unprecedented. "I shall go and come as I please! As for the police, what have I to do with them? I am amazed that you should attempt to dictate to me when even mother—"

"Oh, my dear, my dear," the spinster broke in, "it is 62