It was in Bagley's handwriting and had evidently been dropped by the man to whom the secretary had given it to post.

But what interested Jefferson more than anything else was that it was addressed to Miss Kate Roberts.

Under ordinary circumstances, a king's ransom would not have tempted the young man to read a letter addressed to another, but he was convinced that his father's secretary was an adventurer and if he were carrying on an intrigue in this manner it could have only one meaning.

It was his duty to unveil a rascal who was using the Ryder roof and name to further his own ends and victimize a girl who, although sophisticated enough to know better, was too silly to realize the risk she ran at the hands of an unscrupulous man.

Hesitating no longer, Jefferson tore open the envelope and read: My dearest wife that is to be: I have arranged everything.