"Is she here, Ralph?" questioned his mother anxiously, as he returned to the sitting room.
"No," answered Ralph. "Mother, there is foul play here."
"Oh, Ralph!"
"I am sure of it. Someone has ransacked the house, and I believe they have kidnapped Mrs. Davis."
"But—why?" stammered the affrighted Mrs. Fairbanks.
"Why?" cried Ralph, greatly stirred up by tumultuous thoughts and suspicions that irresistibly thronged his brain. "To secure something that Mrs. Davis had in her keeping, I believe."
"But who would do it?"
"Who?" responded Ralph. "I can imagine only one person who might be interested."
"And that is?"
"Gasper Farrington."
"Right!" pronounced a new voice, startlingly near. "You have hit the nail squarely on the head this time, Ralph Fairbanks!"
