CHAPTER XIII
THE LOVE OF STAFFORD KING
Maisie White had no illusions. When the report came to her that the detective she had employed had passed his services over to the man he was engaged to watch, she knew that the full force of the Boundary Gang would be employed to her extinction. Strangely enough, she did not appear to be disturbed, as she confessed to Stafford King. They were lunching together at the Hotel Palatine and the detective was unusually thoughtful.
"Why don't you go out of London?" he asked.
"I must go on with my work," she said.
"What is your work?" he asked.
"I have told you once," she replied. "I am trying to disentangle my father from disgrace. I am working to put him apart when the day of reckoning comes."
"You've not heard from him?" he asked.
She shook her head, and her eyes filled with tears.
"He has been a good father to me," she said, "the kindest and best of daddies. It is dreadful to think——" her lips quivered and she could go no further.