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Show !THFi TIM IIP) wiiwriw i Ji- kJrALvmJl H iiJ ii Jiliiiiilj y jju) Arthur stringer j WHAT HAS GONE EEFOKB. ! rid, R-.lmv filial. si'Pcinl npent and operative for the Tptoow-. t- , York, writes thee stories for the i'rformTm, , Protective A1-freVEu'iu'.d, A1-freVEu'iu'.d, to prove to him that. ultKotig ap S , .r?' 7,mk,e' .Mr; : ; si,e alylvertllim- Bahny was dls misSeri from a he k-, M' tsa,nst r 5,S because she let Allele Parento, a you -c- Iial fA1 I ,A V f nle,'" s : Jfart and wounded himself, escape. SMie later le rns tL?, h, 'd " hls As an object lesson for a group of -em ML,, th?1 betar,e a ?: f tJ' A !.". pave Halmy the Job ofVeHUrg t I rd htJe.?0'' S"?a" ''hch She was then to be arrested, tried end " nt r , K" : lHn; ,Y' !n ; ,ed In the attempt at this sham robheT? si,e crlurnfo' ' ",m--'hivf ' amond, who is h.ter found dead, and the , Mono Is eon f m m ,1 f"'5'', 0t 4pU o "He it. The stone is later recovered"frdmg Cura 2'"" soivn gem thief. Toooey Attrill Is a stool pigeon for the .Alliance. Copyrig ub and the driving: rain. Mv babv-eved war widow had realized that it 'would r.eer do for me to ascertain her home address, or even the "fence- for which she may have been heading I sat there pensive for a minute or two thinking of Winkie and wondering what to do. "And where would you like to get out?" sweetly inquired the woman at mv side. Her ingenuousness was almost childlike. But it failed to make an impression on me. ""When you do," was mv curt response. And she sighed audibly, with the plaintive plain-tive patience of a' much-tried woman doing do-ing her best to be reasonable. Eut I had formulated a plan of action by this time, and I stuck to her like a leech. I stepped out of the cab when she did, and waited under the dripping canopy in front of Biltman & Tavlor's until she paid her fare. I followed her in through the double swing-doors and still kept after her, like a harbor tug nosing after a liner. I still kept in her wake as she sailed majestically up to the elevators. And by one of those odd little coincidences which often make life quite as romantic as fiction itself, at just about that time I caught sight of Toosey Attrill herself. What made things more interesting was the fact that Toosey Copyright. 1919, by the McC.ure Newspaper Syndicate I w,f" ih9 d,rivin rain. My babv-eved ,a " " had realized that it would fe n.e er do for me to ascertain her home f address, or even the "fence" for which she may have been heading I sat there pensive for a minute or ! 1 Tl ;,TV .hllLklns 01 Wir'kie and wondering . ,, J -ItS. what to do. 1 "And where would you like to get out?" " I a sweetly inquired the woman at mv side. ; Her ingenuousness was almost childlike. 1 : IS But it failed to make an impression on ' fc i p mf- rfjl I ! I , g "When you do," was my curt response. B z3A , , n 1 , 1 g And she sighed audibly, with the plain- PiJpSj I g tive patience of a' much-tried woman do- ifesfe i I ing her best to be reasonable. P". BJ-M i ' S Eut I had formulated a plan of action 'tiHl i ! by this time, and I stuck to her like a - I " P leech. I stepped out of the cab when i?iln- r?H ' ' 6? she did, and waited under the dripping I0S5W '-Sijr1 ' ps canopy in front of Biltman & Tavlor's SfosjJS-a"""! I ' I 1 1 ! until she paid her fare. I followed her S&S&8 in through the double swing-doors and M-M I - still kept after her, like a harbor tug gSGSS I r te nosing after a liner. I still kept in her ijrtjzrSa ' i wake as she sailed majestically up to - I the elevators. And by one of those odd gfegEgL J t i I I I 1 1 g' little coincidences which often make life StiS- r ' i 1 t ' 1 1 quite as romantic as fiction itself, at just Ws3p0 I i I about that time I caught sight of Toosey gySfjtgjgga 1 Attrill herself. What made things more , P-g interesting was the fact that Toosey .ssl l j'- A - 'X ! . ,s liM.- JmiTj -- i j -j? J jS&Ff s,- '(J. The End of the Trail. ijl - was as clever a bit of "penny-x "penny-x 1 weighting" as I'd ever clapped my eveS on. i.. What first made me watch the ;:r woman, In fact, was my accidental .-syvation of her hand -movement as pressed a bit of chewing-gum under in, edge of the glass showcase. All the sti was doing this, I noticed, she r'rj -ns engaged in a casual, yet seemingly ''i :r.eJt, conversation with the clerk be- I'-iihegeni counter. She continued to jldy, apparently, the array of unniount-i unniount-i j ftones spread out over the- little r' .;.i:e of black velvet on the top of the -:.xc3sc. But she seemed hard to sat-v sat-v For just a moment that patient ;,; -.-i punctilious old salesman turned . l'J '.y'i- to produce another tray of jewels ''her inspection. And as 1 had ex- I " r:ed, sbe took advantage of that mo- -;rt. She quietly, but quickly, pressed amounted Mexican opal into the still a -''gum under the case edging, v The customer, in this case, was plainly -.iing advantage of that quiet-man- --:ti clerk's faith in her appearance of ;" !!-being. She appeared the embodi-fnt embodi-fnt of good form. "Even the woman's ;;e, it rather astonished me to observe. '" -5 a reiteration of this same note. It -is not a face to excite suspicion. There ;t is nothing hard or crafty or sordid ,-rjt it. It was a soft face,, but its :;:ies5 carried no paraded taint of -ikness. It disarmed suspicion. It was -. .weapon, apparently, which in the pres-'i pres-'i t case she was using for all it was -nil. I ?or she wasn't stealing that Mexican j il as easily as she had imagined. The . ? of that trained salesman had been :;ek to appraise his pad nil of unmount-: unmount-: stones. It took scarcely a - pulse--n of time to tell him that one of them ts missing. But he remained as punc-ousjy punc-ousjy courteous and attentive as be--e. "N'one of these w ill do," announced " rosy widow as she pushed the black -vpt pad back toward the clerk. You are taking only one?'' the old ;rk mildly inquired, with a hand move-rent move-rent toward the unmounted stones. "Do you mean to sav one of those "lis is missing?" suddenly demanded ; 5 soft-eyed woman in the war-widow --liming. I "It doesn't seem to be here," the old : rk half-apoloeetically acknowledged, ntinuing his search. ! "Since the opal disappeared when I J 15 standing here beside it, I should like ' " he searched." j The old clerk's smile was almost a com- i JFeratlve one. "Pardon me, but that is a procedure 'e never resort to. And it could scarce- j be undertaken in in such surround- j "Then T should like to see the man-r man-r of this place." I "he old clerk "seemed altogether occu- i in restoring his jewels to their place : ie the ca we. I You will find him in the second of- 1 - immediately in the rear," he said, j h the impersonality of the Sphinx. i ! things straieht as as she went along""' t "That's the hideous part of it ," he i acknowledged, "my he'.p'.essr.ess. There j I are things I can't stra:gliten up. Today, To-day, for instance, there was a diamond pendant, a very valuable one. which remains unaccounted for. And ever, the more trivial things, the thir.es I could have replaced, huve passed into possession posses-sion of somebody much baser than that poor woman herself. I mean she's been robbed, in turn, by some sneak thief of the streets.'' I kept a perfectly straight face. "Have you any suspicion as to who this thief could be?" I asked, "Yes; but it's not a very definite one. I remember seeing a man, an altogether unattractive-looking man. at the different differ-ent places she visited. I thought at the time that it was a series of mere coincidences. coinci-dences. But I think now that he must have been dogging her steps from shop to shop." "Has she explained anything to you?" He sighed rather despondently. "I've given up trying to get much help in that direction." he admitted. "After the the hist outbreak, she confessed to me that she'd hidden a Tiffany bar pin by burying it up on the roof. There's a sort of arbor and roof garden up there, with tubbed trees and things. The bar pin was supposed to be in one of those boxes of earth. But I could never find it." "And what were you wanting of me?" I inquired. He stood silent for quite a long time. "I wanted to know if you would marry me?" he finally said, in a very quiet and deliberate tone of voice. "I don't tli ink so," I told him, in my most matter-of-fact manner. " V hy ?" lie asked. "There are several reasons." I promptly prompt-ly and firmly announced. Vet the next moment confusion reigned in my empty little head, for 1 was afraid he was going go-ing to ask me what those reasons were. But he spoke about something altogether different. "Do you remember one day, in St. John's? Among other things I told you I didn't see how I could ever be happy without you." he went on with a sort of deliberate noncommital evenness of tone. I'd already awakened to the fact that my Winkie was making love to me. But it wasn't the way, as a girl, I had expected ex-pected some day to be made love to. Perhaps I was too old, I told myself, with an odd little flutter of fear, too old and wise and hard ever to fee! the tug of a heartstring. And that made all the world seem a terribly empty and arid one. "There were certain things which I misunderstood," he went on, though 1 could see that he wasn't quite as calm as he was pretending to be. "And, whnt's more, I've just .had talk with, that man Sloan today, and he gave me to understand under-stand that nothing would or could induce in-duce you to leave the work which you had accepted from him." "That seems to have been a more or less definite statement of facts." T ventured, ven-tured, wondering even while I spoke why I was so intent on walling happiness out of my life. "But you are the person to give the answer to that," maintained Winkie. Some ghostly voice of lost and van-, ished youth asked why. as he took my hand in his, he had avoided the use of the word "love." For his eyes were saving what his tongue had been half-ashamed half-ashamed to say. Then the gooseflc-sh turned into a nettlcrash of nerve ends, for a carefully modulated voice broke in on our brown study of each other's face. 'So you've got her?" sounded from the open door behind me. I swung about, and standing in that open door I saw my wa r-widow herself, looking, out of her street clothes, more pink and rounded, than ever. "Yes, I've got her!" announced the dubiously du-biously triumphant Winkie, with a little shake' of excitement in his voice. At the same moment that I heard Mrs.' Rumball-Shelton's sigh of relief 1 felt the reassuring pressure of Winkle's hand about my fingers. "Then what are you going to do with her?" "I'm going to hold her." said Winkie, "hold her to the bitter end!" And it was only then that I remembered it was about time for mo to draw my hand awn y. I turned about, in fact, and faced Mrs. Rumball-Shelt'm. As I did so I noticed two things. The first was a decidedly ridiculous one. It w;i s a cobweb on top of her carefully coifed head. The second was a peculiarly disdainful movement which she had abstractedly repeated, a movement of rubbing the tips of tier fingers fin-gers together as though to free them of dust. "Winkfred, I should like to see this young wnman alone for a few moments." I noticed, as she spoke, that there were distinct stains of moist earth on her finger-tips. And that set me thinking. "Most certH inly not," was Winkle's positive retort to his aunt's request. "Whatever you may think I urn, Wink-fred. Wink-fred. I can assure yon thn t this young : person is something infinitely worse." ' "W hat makes you t hink that?" asked j the nreoccupierl Winkie, "Rcause this is the woman who robbed , me!" declared Mrs. Ktimball-Shelton with decision'. "It is perfect h- true." T told him n s j quid ly as T could. And I stood there, j waiting for it to sink in. "And the din mond pnd;t nl?" he p:i Id I with a sort of anxious K;isp. "That I didn't get." I had to arknowl- .' edge. .It was the war-widow who spnko next, i "Then the sooner we smd for tlm pn- ' lice the bet t nr." she. annonn','-'d mh she started for the desk. But Winkie w ;,s closer, rr-aehrvj the telephone lWore she .. did. He already hrtri the ni''k'-lrd traiir-' mitter in his hand, in f.-n-t. when the rail -bell shrilled out its mi mm on p. Hp hesitate, looked first a! me and then atl Ids aunt, and fin.-iliv lifted the re'Tlvnr. I Then )if see.med to forof both of n. heard him pay only opr. word. It was a ! preorrupiprl "Se:." Th" next moment his 1 fn'-'p went M;mk. and he wan obviously listening. Then he w rrj f'l the rfrciver down on tts hook anri made for thn rnor. almost on a run. He thr''v a fiennl ovr-r ' his sho'ildr-r as )n p ;, y f e d n-.r-, wl.irh ---. med to say, Hs plain as words: "Wait h'T." So I waited. Mr. Knrnhall-ShfHnn R'so xva't'-d A ! look of guile, in fact, crept into her cus-loxanly cus-loxanly infantile eyes as we stood facing each other m t:at shadowy roc-.:'.. "I want my tr.mgs hack I" she said, with a st: d den and unreason: -eg decisiveness. The next moment t here w as a : 'ng from the t el e r h o n e on t h e o e sk b cs : c. o. which 1 stood,' Hello'.'" I said. "Who's spt akin' ?" promptly demand 'd a vo ice which I at once r o c o c : : z c d ;s s Toosey's. "It's Balmy." T told her. "We1.!, trll your ma n-friend down thrre that IVpey's hack on that roof. He's been d-icin" round a tree in a tub there. I guess lie's gone nuts and is lookm' for fih-worms. But don't let him get down through the rooi-hr.teh of that swtll front until 1 set a cop who can make a twelve-foot twelve-foot drop from this apartment-house window:" win-dow:" 1 didn't wait for more. I wanted to get to t ha t roof wit hout he loss of n. moment's time. l'.iMiiict prompted me to swins back a door, and this door. 1 found, opened on a narrow stairway which led to the roc-thatch itself. Through that hatch., which was no longer shut. I could hear the steady boat of the falling rain. 1 went tip that flight of steps more cautiously. cau-tiously. 1 wanted to regain my hre.i th. But even more I wanted my approach to be unobserved, for I wa s fra n ' ic.ll' and foolishly intent on protecting Winkie. He knew so little about the typ"e of m.m he had gone forth to face that he might blunder into a trap before he so much as scented danger. With me it was different. differ-ent. I wasn't unfamiliar with that breed of sewer-rat and with his tricks. Tt was, accordingly, a very cautious head that I preened about the corner of that open hatchway, very much like a. gopher peering out of his pra trie sa nd-ho'e. nd-ho'e. What suddenly held my paze was tho figure of a man down on Ins knees on the wet roof, earnestly scratching through the soil of one of the tree-tubs. And that man was Dopey Jones. 1 was so impressed bv that dripping figure crouched over Die tub of wet c.irth, in fact, that I didn't, catch sight of Winkie himself until he stepped out. from behind the end of, the flapping striped awning. Dopey must have seen hnu at almost the same time, for that worthv ducked and slithered about 1 he edge of the tub. He did so with the quickness of a wea.se, reaching for his hip pocket as he went. But Winkie was too quick for him. Winkie, T saw. had caught up a loosened loos-ened slat from one of the green-paint ed benches, and Dopey, as his enemy descended upon him, had only time M wrench an iron brace free from the awning-stanchion beside which he crouched. Winkie parried a blow from the iron brae-e end tried to bring his slat down on his adversary's head. But that adversary, adver-sary, being used to su'h encounters, dodged in the nick of time. As Winkie. attempted to repeat his blow he missed tire, slipped on the Tet roof-treads and went down with a. thump. As he went, however, he had presence of mind enough to catch at Dopoy's foot. But to interfere in t hat fight . I soon saw, was not as easy as it promised. To , single out Dopey Jones, as t he t wo o( them went th resl:ing and clawing and rolling about that abandoned 1001 garden gar-den was about the same as t rying to single out the propeller blades of a racing airship. Despairing of an hon.'St knockout, knock-out, Dopey now seemed intent on maneuvering ma-neuvering a way toward tho edge of tho roof. Yet to do this the two rolling bodies had to thiesli through the parterre par-terre of green flower boxes and the lntlo avenue of tubbed red cedars. This sent two of the trees over, followed hv a green-slatted bench. Before I could catch up the iron brace that, had fallen from Dopey'y hand, that slum athlete, by a series of rapid and adroit revolt I ions, had actually reached the edge of the roof. I could see my W inkie's head ha ng ing out over space and thai awoke In me all the fury that lies dormant in tho female, of the species. He was mine, and ho must he saved. Dopey, with one too anchored in the cave trough, was penally pen-ally gnawing at Winkle's hand with his teeth, to brea k his hold before essa yin g that final lurch which would stmd Ins opponent hurtling over into space. And it was then, ns I caught at Winkio'H up-thrust up-thrust limb hy the slack of his trouscr leg, that I saw my chance. Dor thai, delicate deli-cate poise, on the e;g.e of things bad brought miun onlary quiescence to I heso two contending hod i cm. Wil hout cotn-pu cotn-pu net ion, without lies it at ion, I hrnunlit the end oj" that Iron brace down on thn wrinkled white forehead of Dopey .buna. The noxt. moment lhat head relaxed, Willi a slight hackw.i rd movement, a nd tho twisted jaws fell a part . I rem i -in bet dropping the brace, hut T don't femem-ber femem-ber seeing Winkie worm hack from that si ippory preeipiee and get to his f r . Dor I was more Interested .tui-a then in ma king sure of my prisoner. ( At that moment Tois..y appeared through the roof hatch, followed by t wo policemen. "The chief's on 11m wlr dnw n:d a 1 m waiMn' to talk to you," explained To.,a.-y. And when , I went down my Wink In in -sjst ed on nuning wit h lm-. "There's eoniuihing I wa ut In f-a v before be-fore ynu talk to that man," deeland the masterful Winkie. What he Haul (.hall nof bo written hero. It was meant for me :i nd W inkb and for nobody elsn. Jmt I was still anilling a little drea mily, T k now, a h 1 1 uuk up the receiver. And J Inaid Iiuspeofnr iSloa h'h vice. "Say, Balmy. T van) vot- to run dnwn a couple (.f mulattu pe;irl smm-gleis for me. Wilklns repm-is Uiem tal-.mr tho i'emisy 4:10 for Philadelphia, end ovw t.tere they're lU'ly r. fUllke fnr Chinatown. China-town. S' dig 'em nut"' - ' VUl"t he dope," I replied. ""'an't it now'.' And why nl '.'" I rould detf'Ct the IM'n'k. TV in the vmce, p-ut HlO (dd ironic note, was no buij i- a la; h to nm. "I'nea U.'--e I'm lep ''Jvii.-y at wh-'t ''" "I'm hu;-v totting ready fnr a wadding," wad-ding," I told him. "A WerJdliv e- h-. rl (hat voh'P of diK im;t, I'Wii ,--o wodd ,:'.' "Mme!"' I haul. "So pcod - n i 1 , t 1 " And I ram,- off. But I don"! hep, v Pd got that r--'"' r on iiH hook before Wnil.ie )i;,d ,no in hi.' a riiiii ,i a n 'I he Hnd I nCu7.:r-mv gathered up her Japanese Japa-nese beaded cag mat was easily worth io,i a dozcn -Mexican Pals, and her n sOTnV U"ith blaCk PeaAs- Then she lustied determinedly rearward toward the oi lice in question. Then I could see, put of the corner n a ywn 'eSa', tnat a 'ng-legged young already stepping up to the so elderly secreted. Taking advantage M . Jac, that the fastidious-man-ncred old clerk was still staring somewhat some-what perplexedly after the disappearing woman, the newcomer stood close in beside be-side the showcase and let his gloved hand arop to its lower edge. The next moment I say his fingers puli away the jewel gummed to its hiding-place, and promptly drop it in his pocket. What made me rather catch my breath was the discovery that the long-legged man who had pocketed the opal was Winkfred Ealand! I stood there as dazed as a fruit-peddler whose whole apple-cart has gone oer. l saw a proprietory-Iooking man with an aldermamc paunch step ud to the old clerk and hold a whispered consultation consulta-tion with him. and again disappear into one of the ornately partitioned offices at the rear. Presently T saw my pink and white war-widow marching solemnly and a little lit-tle triumphantly out of the store I decided to follow her. When she stood under the dripping awning and motioned a taxicab I signaled for its successor. U'hen she pulled up at the carriage-entrance of the big Fifth Avenue hotel I did the same. She meandered stolidly on to the Palm room, where she seated herself at one of1 the double-sided writing desks and lei-I surely proceeded to indite a note or two on the cream -and-gold crested writing paper of the hotel. I followed suit bv taking a well-sheltered seat next to the wall. And a few minutes of quiet observation convinced me that my war-widow wasn't giving her entire attention to the correspondence in ' hand. She was, in fact, maintaining a guarded inspection of that entire room. ' Then her attention seemed to be discreetly dis-creetly directed toward the woman on the opposite side of the double-topped desk. She was plainly an out-of-towner. I knew that even before I caught sight of the old-fashioned gold-mesh bag which she perched beside her gloves on the rose- 1 wood rait dividing the little desk. Then my attention went back to the war- widow, for that plump lady's predatory eye was most unmistakably fixed on this same gaudy and glittering bag. Then leaning further forward over the desktop, desk-top, as though in the throes of labored 1 composition, she Jet her left hand slip forward until the point of the lorgnon which she held between her fingers came in contact with the meshes of gold. She waited, in that position, for a considerable consider-able length of time. Then with the point of her lorgnon she quietly and deliberately deliberate-ly lifted the bag from its resting-place and let it sink noiselessly down on her own side of the little oartition. She went on writing for several minutes without moving. Then it was withdrawn and secreted se-creted somewhere in the folds of that be-guilingly be-guilingly funereal apparel. Then I saw her calmly fold up the last of her notes, address an envelope, and seal it. Having done that she rose quietly from her chair, glanced absently about her, and stepped' demurely across the heavily carpeted room and out through the door; pleasantly pleas-antly requested a taxicab of the starter, and gathered up her skirts with what must have been a distinct, but altogether misleading sense of triumph. For I was close on her heels, every move. But instead of ordering a second . taxi this time. I climbed in right after my billowy pennyweighter. Tt was anything but a friendly smile with which tho lady in the war-widow togs accosted me as I plumped down in the. seat beside her. "You've made quite a haul today!" I companionably and yet at the same time pointedly announced, in an effort to get even with her for that stare. "T find that you are annoying me," she said, with almost bored unconcern, "and, distasteful as it may be, I must stop and complain to the first officer we meet." ; "It will not be necessary to stop," T told her as I lifted my wnist revers and ! flashed my Alliance shield, "for you've got the officer right here beside you." I She glanced down at the shield without I a tremor. She didn't even seem inter-i inter-i ested in it. ! She leaned forward and tapped on the i glass, with a command for the driver to stop. at the next corner. "It's no use," I told her. "Why isn't it?" she demanded. "Because my only alternative will be to order this driver to take us both to the nea rest sta t Ion -house." "Don't be absurd." she said, settling rather heavily back in her sea t. "You don't understand, I see, just who I am." "I intend to find out," L averred. "I'm scarcely in the habit of explaining explain-ing myself to people." she announced. "Po'vou know Winkfred KalandV" I flung oiit at her. And I had the satisfaction satis-faction of seeing her start. "I should say I did," was her prompt and somewhat unexpected reply to that question. A suspicion of guile came for the first time into her almost infantile-looking infantile-looking eves. She again leaned forward in her seat, in fact, and rapped sharply on ,thc cab front. "Driver" she said, with what I knew was mere'lv well-feigned perturbation, "I find I have forgotten a parcel a valuable inroe! Take me riu'ht back to Bhtman i & Tavlor's. And please hurry!" The , 'f:z:Percto3 I was toooldl ToLd MyseL?, wi ti an odd 1 Lit tie flutter of fear, too old a id wtse ana Aardtto jgrygeZ thetucj of a heart jg toJ papier poudre, several samples of dress I goods, and a lottery ticket for a country club raffle all of which would have proved a distinct disappointment, I felt, to my deft-fingered war-widow. Restoring that ridiculous gold mesh bag to its owner was not as simple as it sounded. It took time to find that au-tumnally au-tumnally resplendent out-of-towner. And when I did find her, that provincial Lady Chesterfield was plainly of the opinion that I was a repentant thief, inexplicably moved to return the spoils of war. But all thought on tho matter was cut short by ihe sudden and unexpected reappearance reappear-ance of Toosey as she swooped down on me from her violently halted taxicab. "What are you doing here?" I somewhat some-what inadequately demanded. "That war-widow o' yours sailed off in a taxi, and I went afler her like a subchaser. sub-chaser. "When she got up to her house in East Seventy-third street and, believe be-lieve me. it was some house! a gink that looked like a head-waiter breezed out and opened the cab door for her and Walter Raleighed her up the steps. Then be ran ahead and opened the house door, and kind o' made we wonder if I'd been tailin' one of the Four Hundred. I may "have been worried, but I didn't back water. I legged it up and clown past tha t swell front three or four times, then what should I lamp but Dopey Jones Dopey Jones, the runnin' mate for that same Tisda le rib I'd been tailin' not more 'n half a n hour before. Dopey headed for the tall timber by duckin' into the apartment apart-ment house next door and takin' the elevator ele-vator for the top floor. I mosied into that marble-fringed cell-tier myself, nd sky-hooted sky-hooted up to the bridge-deck. But there was no Dopey in sight. 0 I hurried down to the street again, in case Dopey had rounded back on me by way 0' the stairs. Rut still tberft was nnttiu' doin. And that kind o' got my nanny. Then a second sec-ond taxi swung up to th e war-widow's bouse and stopped there. A cane-swinger steps out o' tha t cab and gives me the once-over as he lifts his lid, polite as you please. 'Just whom was you wait in' for?' be says, with the big stick swiimin' on every word. T think I've seen you before.' be-fore.' 'I do consider'blo tra velin', I explained ex-plained its I toyed earelcss-Iike with my ear buns. 'But why in this n-icrhhor-hood'." lie shot brick at me. 'Recrim-e. there's ri snak-thief the home-folk?- down to p'lice hea drjua rters is waitin' to interview. in-terview. And T miss my one good guss if she didn't Just duck into that house taxicab circled the square and turned southward again. The maneuver was a.s transparent as the window glass between promptly yet cautiously threw me the code sign to keep off her beat. And it wasn't until I followed Toosey and my war widow Into the steel cage tlat I fully realized the nature of Toosey's preoccupation. pre-occupation. For within three feet- of me I noticed by the mirror set in the wall of that crowded elevator, stood a pert-eyed woman whom I at once recognized as a "pocket slasher" known to the profession, profes-sion, I remembered, as Trixie Tisdale. Incomplete as was my view of her in the mirror, I noticed that she pressed a little close to my placid-eyed war-wi-1 dow. I caught a glimpse of certain extremely ex-tremely guarded exploratory movements, and then the even more-guarded downward down-ward sweep of her right hand, which told me as plain as words that the redoubtable redoubt-able Trixie was reverting to her old-time arts of "slashing" and "poke-swagging." Just what her haul was I couldn't make out. It disappeared too quickly into the secret slip-skirt pocket which she wore for such occasions. I had only time, as we moved in a body out of that crowded elevator, to fly a distress signal for Toosey's observation. obser-vation. She edged toward me at a petti-coat petti-coat counter, seemingly intent on U study of changeable taffeta. "Toosev," I said, as I studied a com-I com-I panion garment, "that plump widow at ! the end of this aisle is a jewel thief. I want vou to trail her." "Rut I'm beaglin' that, boob-trimmer stallin' there at the waist counter. And I gotta get next to her before she does the Arab act!" "Never mind Trixie Tisdale, I told Toosey, dropping into her idiom. "I'll attend to her. You shallow that widow. She's wise to my lay, so we'll have to switch. , m "1 get vou!" announced Toosey. Toosey 'discreetly eyed her prospective Quarry. "Then get busy, quick, for there s Trixie edging for a duck!" Rut Trtvie didn't even get to the elevator ele-vator She had taken her soundings, and e'vervthlncr. of course, had looker! like I plain failing to her. So it brought her un short to" find me blocking her wa y a? the case door slid open and ihe attendant announced "Going down!" . "Net yet!" I said with decision. For Trixie and I had done business together before. , It took a little time for the true sanation sana-tion to ooze through to Tritie.s Third avenue and third-rate in'eh;cenee. "You can't pinch me in this store, she aid with a litt'e snort of defiance. ..per-iapS j n't. Rut If you want to save a' rap and a fail-talk from a beak vou can walk quietly int tha; dressing L.,,,in0t over there and unload!" ',0 a very wicked swear-word be tween her te-Mh, but she move! sullen'y and silently toward the curtained WiUc chamber. . Our conference ther1 was a href nn. R was also a pror.u-tive one. sn far as T was concerned. For b-sid-s a goU mesn bag and a M xl-'a-n oval s.tehtiy jrre re, ; with cum it' also yie'ricd me a ..a: ::i:ee handworked . si,:, baj o . r;5,h obc.-e dimensions. Ar.1Tr.xe to departure with h.ve &i:d hi ..er eye. The moment T as ah-r e I invest; c-.:ed r IVl-v silk batr that nad been smpen awiv from Its ca:Tm cord. From 1: I 1,-ok'ou: a -rohi c-.n p.irse. a rrav0:: r firee coM-f.Pcked fur.s:o-,es :a pn 1 -r Vny hlo.k-ho-dered r.r--: , iumble of banKro.ep. .1 - .i . I ;-,v;nted thrm amou r. . ed ,; a . s, . o . rl,,d',''.,"i.'"ni'-,v: liiiit tm -.; a ..) " ' ji " a coed df.-.: to t:.;:i; or. T;., 1 v.rrcA .0 t::o c-: f -. T-s co,,tn;s. however, were o. a .-...-what ftererit crar. ,U 1-r . P, i'w to Grow T-n.-a-t-,rs c- I there!' 'I'm afraid you're in error," he said, backin' up against bis taxi-fender. 1 'Not on your life!' I told him. 'Then 1 what're you goiu' to do about it?' he sings back at me. 'I'm goin back to get Balmy Rymal, and we're groin' to get into that house if we have to jimmy our way in!' And it got his goat all right, for it suro sent him off in a trance. 'I wish vou would get her,' he finally piped up, as though ho was talkin' to the lamp post. 'Then again,' he said, T must inquire just what you wish?' T want a cab,' I told him. 'Then by all means take mine,' he said, as smooth as silk. And I took it. And H brought me down in a hurry. And here 1 am!" "Then come quick," I said a.s I bailed an empty taxi. In another two minutes we were headed for East Seventy-third street. "Toosey," I said, as we swung- eastward east-ward off Fifth avenue, "I don't like the looks of Dopey Jones rabbiting about that house. 1 can't make out what he's after. But if I get inside that house you begin at those apartments next door and work your way up until you've picked up Dopey's trail." I mounted the broad sandstone steps with my demurest manner. To my surprise, sur-prise, however, I wasn't even given a chance to ring the bell. The door opened before I could announce my presence there. And it was "Winkle himself who opened it Winkie with a frown of trouble trou-ble on his customarily placid brow and the last curve of humor ironed out of his rather grim-looking mouth. "I've been waiting for you," he announced an-nounced as he ushered me into what was plainly a library. One glance showed me that it was a very ornately furnished one. "Whose house is this?" I ungraciously demanded. "Mrs. Rumba 11-Shelt on's," he ex-pla ex-pla Ined as he placed a chair for me. "She happens o be my Aunt Henrietta." Henriet-ta." be replied, with just the slightest note of hostility in his voice. "I once thought you were a thief," lie finally said, with a malter-of-factnss which I hadn't exactly expected from him. "I've had reason to think the same of you." I toid him as quietly as I could. "Of me?" he echoed. And I could see that my thrust had gone home. "I saw you work that old gum-trick in that jewelrv store this morn mg." I said, straight out from the shoulder. It didn't seem to rea'h him the way I had expected it to do. jie neither wincr-d nor chanced ro)nr. merely stood there w-'ggi-ig his bead slowly from si do to side, for all the world like a Rolur bear in a z -. "Surely ynu r;m realize thft r-i t ua t I'm hre." he said, with real pain in his voi TP. "You'll first have to exn'.aln it." T ;m-nnunc-d. lie h-oked at me with a hard-enlrEr hard-enlrEr pve. "Rut y.'-u k:ow th:- wo-.-.an is a mm-br mm-br of my own family, prr-ic" --t I1-.- thn t is. sl.p is mv own r; 1 o t h - r s t.r And wouldn't it be ur; iatur-il nor 1 r no what ou c-ouli to ir';'--t h'T? The v. man is a v:- tim of a p:-d r dMu.- lor.;-. tn-c!t.'-v wh ch lea v.---- h"r ri 1 m -;-1 ir-j-p---o:.,:b as a eh-hi " Wm.e v ;, s s;--R.g. 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