Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. Excerpt from book: Section 3CHAPTER III UNKNOWN GROUND CHANCE never does things by halves. I was convinced that morning as I sat beside Bob King in his motor while we dashed away together down a spattery country road without regard to water, mud, or speed laws. I had sent a wire to the city to catch the baggage I had left in my train and had taken him at his word. He introduced himself. He was a friend, he said, of the Philbric family. He vouchsafed no more than that, and there was no reason why he should. I had told him practically as much—and as little—on my own part. But we had small wish to speak of personalities just then. Each took the other at his word and on the evidence that eyes could collect and we talked of the uppermost thing in our minds. " I have little enough information," he said. " The message came to me over the phone. But nobody else knows more. It's been a strange series of events—and now it's come to tragedy." " Tell me all you've heard," I said guardedly. I had no wish to make confession to him that an hour earlier I had been the veriest stranger and outsider.I was taking enough upon myself in venturing to accompany him at his invitation to the home of the Philbrics for which we were bound, but I had chosen between this and tamely, uselessly remaining behind. If you ask excuse or motive I cannot give you better ones than that I felt I had found a plausible reason for offering my help in the quarrel in which I had already been involved and the conviction that the shooting at the Philbric country-seat had directly to do with the case in which my afternoon's fracas was now an incident. I had not long to wait to learn the accuracy of that conjecture. " Who is the man who was shot ? " I asked. " That's the queer part," said King, with scowling brows. " I heard first that it was Wheeler Scancey. That w... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.