s, I drew a long breath of relief, but my heart
ached for the lonely man behind those prison walls.

Neither Miles nor myself had much to say for awhile as we took our way
back toward our own section, but finally I broke the silence by asking
him how he was impressed with Winters's statement. He replied:

"It won't acquit him unsupported, but I think he told the truth."

"What are we to do about his case then," I asked. "Certainly you do not
intend to continue your search for evidence against him?"

"No," he answered, "it is not necessary that I should do that. I will do
what I can to get more information about the case generally, which, if
he is innocent, can only help him."

"Then," I said, "I may depend upon your help in my work." He promised
it, and I asked him to find out for me first, if possible, what had
become of the missing bills.

He smiled a little before he answered. "I am afraid I can find them all
too easily for your purposes"; and then added, "come with me now if you
have the time and I will show you how we sometimes accomplish our ends
by playing a bluff game."

"Where are you going," I asked. He replied, "To Belle Stanton's for the
missing bills," and hailing an uptown car, boarded it, I getting on
after him.

Indeed, I thought, if this man's expectations prove true and he traces
the money to that house, our first service will have proved of a kind
Winters could better have dispensed with. Perhaps we would be
unsuccessful, though, and then on the other hand we would have
accomplished something worth while.

When we reached our destination, Miles rang the bell and the door was
opened by the landlady herself. She evidently recognized us and looked
none too agreeably surprised, but asked us into the big bare parlor,
quite politely.

I took a seat, but the detective, declining her invitation, turned to
her very quickly, and said:

"Mrs. Bunce, we find there were three fifty-dollar bills in the pocket
of Mr. White's ulster when it was left here the night of his death and
we need them, so I came around to ask you to get them for us."

"Do you mean to say," she answered in an indignant tone, "that you think
I took them?"

"No," he said, "I know of course that you did not, but they were taken,
or possibly lost, out of the pocket somewhere in this house, and I want
to find them."

"They were neither lost nor taken in this house," she answered shortly,
and my hopes rose as I began to feel more