The League of Frightened Men

They have been willing so far, at the request of the president of the university, to keep the matter quiet. There has been no publicity. But the police – you might as well match me at chess against Capablanca. Mr. Wolfe…" The fingers of her clasped hands, resting on the package on her lap, twisted a closer knot, and her voice tightened. "You don't know. Paul Chapin has the cunning and subtlety of all the things he mentioned in his first warning, the one he sent after he killed Judge Harrison. He is genuinely evil … all evil, all dangerous… you know he is not a man…"

"There, Miss Hibbard. There now."

Wolfe sighed. "Surely he is a man, by definition. Did he indeed kill a judge? In that instance the presumption is of course in his favor. But you mentioned the first warning. Do you by any chance have a copy of it?"

She nodded. "I have." She indicated the package. "I have all the warnings, including…" She swallowed. "… the last one. Dr. Burton gave me his."

"The one after the apparent suicide." |

"No. The one… another one came this morning to them. I suppose to all of them; after Dr. Burton told me I telephoned two or three. You see, my uncle has disappeared… you see…"

"I see. Indeed. Dangerous. For Mr.

Chapin, I mean. Any kind of a rut is dangerous in his sort of enterprise. So you have all the warnings. With you? In that package?"

"Yes. Also I have bundles of letters | which Paul Chapin has at various times written to my uncle, and a sort of diary | which my uncle kept, and a book of records showing sums advanced to Paul Chapin from 1919 to 1928 by my uncle and others, and a list of the names and addresses of the members – that is, of the men who were present in 1909 when it happened. A few other things."

"Preposterous. You have all that?

Why not the police?"

Evelyn Hibbard shook her head. ‹I decided not. These things were in a very private file of my uncle's. They were precious to him, and they are now precious to me… in a different way.

The police would get no help from them, but you might. And you would not abuse them. Would you?"

At the pause I glanced up, and saw

Wolfe's lips pushing out a little… then in, then out again… That excited me. It always did, even when I had no idea what it was all about. I watched him. He said, "Miss Hibbard. You mean you removed this file from the notice of the police, and kept it, and have now brought it to me?

Containing the names and addresses of the members of the League of Atonement?

Remarkable."