“And you can’t learn by whom?”
“No; there were one or two veiled threats, that might have meant blackmail, and yet might not. I have them safe, but I didn’t bring them up here.”
“It doesn’t matter, such a careful blackmailer as the one we have to deal with, never would write letters that could be traced.”
“And what is to be done in this North matter?”
“First of all, I shall offer a large reward for any word of him. I have faith in offered rewards, if they are large enough. They often tempt accomplices to turn state’s evidence. I’ve already ordered posters and advertisements with portraits of North. My agents will attend to this, and though it may bring no results, yet if it doesn’t,—it will be a hint in another direction.”
“Meaning?”
“That Lawrence North is implicated in the crimes.”
“No, I can’t agree to that. Why the man himself was carried off——”
“I know,—oh, well, Doctor Varian, first of all, we must find that secret passage. There is one,—we can’t blink that fact. Now, where is it? Think of having a given problem like that, and being unable to solve it! I am so amazed at my own helplessness that I am too stunned to work!”
“Go to it, man,—you’ll find it. Tear the house down, if necessary, but get at it somehow.”