CHAPTER XXIV.
A CLEW.
Mr. Wattles stepped forward and gently forced Al to relax his hold on the man's throat.
"Don't get excited, my boy," he said. "This is just the time when you need a cool head."
"That's so, sir," added the visitor. "I don't blame the young gent for the way he feels, but if he expects to get the best of that villain, Jack Farley, he has got to keep his wits about him."
"Then," gasped Al, "it was Farley that enticed her away?"
"It was him, sir."
"And what had you to do with it?"
"More than I wish I had. The truth is, sir, I did not realize what I was doing at the time. I was not onto his game until it was too late, and then I——"
"Don't beat about the bush any longer," interrupted Mr. Wattles, impatiently. "What was Farley's game?"