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"Within the Law"

... Just call your man for a minute, will you, Mr.
Gilder?"
Gilder pressed the electric button on his desk. At the same
moment, through the octagonal window came a blinding flash of
light that rested for seconds, then vanished. Burke, by no means
a nervous man, nevertheless was startled by the mysterious
radiance.
"What's that?" he demanded, sharply.
"It's the flashlight from the Metropolitan Tower," Gilder
explained with a smile over the policeman's perturbation. "It
swings around this way about every fifteen minutes. The servant
forgot to draw the curtains." As he spoke, he went to the
window, and pulled the heavy draperies close. "It won't bother
us again."
The entrance of the butler brought the Inspector's thoughts back
to the matter in hand.
"My man," he said, authoritatively, "I want you to go up to the
roof and open the scuttle. You'll find some men waiting up
there. Bring 'em down here."
The servant's usually impassive face showed astonishment, not
unmixed with dismay, and he looked doubtfully toward his master,
who nodded reassuringly.


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