Don't mind me." She had just come across her father's missing letters, which had got mixed up, evidently without Ryder's knowledge, in the mass of papers he had handed her.

Prepared as she was to find the letters somewhere in the house, she never dreamed that fate would put them so easily and so quickly into her hands; the suddenness of their appearance and the sight of her father's familiar signature affected her almost like a shock.

Now she had them, she must not let them go again; yet how could she keep them unobserved?
Could she conceal them?
Would he miss them?
She tried to slip them in her bosom while Ryder was busy at the 'phone, but he suddenly glanced in her direction and caught her eye.

She still held the letters in her hand, which shook from nervousness, but he noticed nothing and went on speaking through the 'phone: "Hallo, Jefferson, boy! You want to see me.

Can you wait till I'm through?
I've got a lady here.