"Yes."
"Has he dared to get troublesome again?" flashed Dick.
"N-n-n-o matter. Please don't ask me. You can't help me any this time."
Once more Mrs. Dexter looked as though she would follow her way, but some other instinct prompted her to add:
"Don't think I don't appreciate my excellent young friends. But you can't help me this time. No one can. Mr. Dexter is too dangerous a man, and when he threatens disaster, and says he'll wait patiently a year to bring it about, he means every word that he says."
"Whew! So he has threatened that, has he?" Dick inquired.
"Yes. I guess I may as well tell you the rest of it. Well, this morning I received a letter from Mr. Dexter. He wanted more money before. Now he puts his demand at thirty thousand dollars. He says that, if I don't arrange to meet him and turn over the cash, he'll wait patiently for a year or more, if necessary, but that he'll watch and find his chance to burn my home down and destroy Myra and me in it."
"Dexter threatened that, did he?" chuckled Dave Darrin, almost merrily. "Why Dexter hasn't the nerve to do such a thing. Excuse me, Mrs. Dexter, but all that fellow is good for is frightening timid women."
"I wish I could believe that," sighed the woman nervously.
"You have a special policeman still in the house, haven't you, Mrs. Dexter?"