"I tried to," the guard returned, "but she won't go—says she is a friend of yours and has got to see you to-night."
"A friend! Huh! How did she get here?"
"In a taxi, and the taxi beat it as soon as she got out."
Again McIver considered. Then his heavy jaw set, and he growled, "All right, bring her in—a couple of you—and see that you stand by while she is here. If this is a Vodell trick of some sort, I'll beat him to it."
Helen, escorted by two burly guards, entered the office.
McIver sprang to his feet with an exclamation of amazement, and his tender concern was unfeigned and very comforting to the young woman after the harrowing experience through which she had just passed.
Sending the guards back to their posts, he listened gravely while she told him where she had been and what she had seen.
"But, Helen," he cried, when she had finished, "it was sheer madness for you to be alone in the Flats like that—at Whaley's place and in the night, too! Good heavens, girl, don't you realize what a risk you were taking?"
"I had to go, Jim," she returned.
"You had to go?" he repeated. "Why?"