the right to come in. Somehow, I got the idea that all was not right here."
"Indeed, it is not right!" cried Mrs Bliss, her breast heaving with sudden emotion. "Why, they actually keep me a prisoner here, saying I'm not in my right mind."
"Who keeps you a prisoner—Mr. Fipher?"
"Yes. But he is merely working for Montague Smith. Do you know that man?"
"Yes."
"He is a heartless villain!" Mrs. Bliss dropped into a chair and burst into tears. "Oh. my young friend, will you help me to escape from here?"
"Certainly I will," returned Franklin, promptly. "They have no right to keep you a prisoner here."
"No, you are right. But do you know why they do it?" cried the woman, passionately. "They do it because I know their secret. Shall I tell you what it is? Montague Smith hired a man out in the east to kill my brother Wilbur. They did it to get possession of Wilbur's valuable patents and inventions. They made away with my poor brother, and now Montague Smith and this other man—Price, or Brice, or whatever his name is—are living upon their ill-gotten gains."
