JOHN BURKETT RYDER, _Dear Sir._--I do not call upon gentlemen at their business office.
Yours, etc., SHIRLEY GREEN.
Her letter was abrupt and at first glance seemed hardly calculated to bring about what she wanted--an invitation to call at the Ryder home, but she was shrewd enough to see that if Ryder wrote to her at all it was because he was most anxious to see her and her abruptness would not deter him from trying again.

On the contrary, the very unusualness of anyone thus dictating to him would make him more than ever desirous of making her acquaintance.

So Shirley mailed the letter and awaited with confidence for Ryder's reply.
So certain was she that one would come that she at once began to form her plan of action.

She would leave Massapequa at once, and her whereabouts must remain a secret even from her own family.

As she intended to go to the Ryder house in the assumed character of Shirley Green, it would never do to run the risk of being followed home by a Ryder detective to the Rossmore cottage.