"No, he didn't make it up, but he was fooled, gulled, taken in."
"By the medium?" asked some one.
"Partly," answered somebody else. "But I think there's been underhand work going on."
"Oh, some of Peter's people or friends helping the medium along. I've read that book with the greatest care, studied it, and I get a lot between the lines. And I think——"
"Don't say it," put in Blair, quietly. "Unless you know something, Knight, better keep still."
"But why, Blair? We're all friends of Peter here, why not discuss the thing freely and frankly?"
"Better let it alone," insisted Blair, and then the talk drifted to the coming competition, which was even more dangerous.
"Of course nobody has a look-in but Blair and Thorpe," declared the talkative Knight. "They're sure to get the prize, separately or together."
"What do you mean by that?"