by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood

“ The Doctor gave him a dignified stare.
"Miss Van Gorder has already explained."
Miss Cornelia elucidated. "Mr. Anderson has already formed a theory of the crime," she said with a trace of sarcasm in her tones.
The detective turned on her quickly. "I haven't said that." He started.
It had come again—tinkling—persistent—the phone-call from nowhere—the ringing of the bell of the house-telephone!
"The house telephone—again!" breathed Dale. Miss Cornelia made a movement to answer the tinkling, inexplicable bell. But Anderson was before her.
"I'll answer that!" he barked. He sprang to the phone. ”

“ The detective turned swiftly to the Doctor, as if to put his case before the eyes of an unprejudiced witness.
"That Jap rang the phone," he said decisively. "Miss Van Gorder believes that this murder is the culmination of the series of mysterious happenings that caused her to send for me. I do not."
"Then what is the significance of the anonymous letters?" broke in Miss Cornelia heatedly. "Of the man Lizzie saw going up the stairs, of the attempt to break into this house—of the ringing of that telephone bell?"
Anderson replied with one deliberate word.
"Terrorization," he said. ”

“ The one word was enough to start Lizzie off on another trail of distrust. "He may be a lawyer——" she quoted to herself sepulchrally from the evening newspaper article that had dealt with the mysterious identity of the Bat.
"And you came here to telephone about your car?" persisted the detective.
Dale rose from her chair with a hopeless little sigh.
"Oh, don't you see—he's trying to protect me," she said wearily. She turned to the young man. "It's no use, Mr. Beresford." ”