mportant result from them. On the other hand, I am convinced
that the transfer of the dispatch will be attempted under your cousin's
roof. I do not need to tell you why Geltmann should have sought to
insure the presence of both women here at one time. He is smart enough;
he knows that in this case there is an added element of safety for him
in numbers--that it is better to have both present. Then unwittingly the
innocent one will serve as a cover for the guilty one. I think he
figures that should discovery of the theft come soon--he not knowing it
already has come--then in such case there will be a divided trail for us
to follow, one end pointing toward Miss Ballister and the other toward
the madame. Or, at least, so I diagnose his mental processes.

"If I have diagnosed them correctly, the big part of the job, Miss
Smith, is now up to you. We figure from what she told Westerfeltner that
the paper will be concealed on the person of the woman we are after--in
her hair perhaps, or in her bosom; possibly in that favourite cache of a
woman--her stocking. At any rate she will have it hidden about her; that
much we may count on for a certainty. And so it must be your task to
prevent that paper from changing hands; better still, to get it into
your own possession before it possibly can come under Geltmann's eyes
even for a moment. But there must be no scene, no violence used, no
scandal; above all things there must be no publicity. Publicity is to be
dreaded almost as much as the actual transfer.

"For my part I can promise you this: I shall be in the house of your
cousin to-morrow night, if you want me to be there. That detail we can
arrange through her: but naturally I must stay out of sight. You must do
your work practically unaided. I guarantee though to insure you plenty
of time in which to do it. Geltmann will not reach the party until later
than he expects. The gentleman will be delayed by one or a number of
annoying but seemingly unavoidable accidents. Beyond these points I
have to confess myself helpless. After those two women pass inside Mrs.
Hadley-Smith's front door the real job is in your hands. You must find
who has the paper and you must get it away from its present custodian
without making threats, without using force--in short, without doing
anything to rouse the suspicions beforehand of the person we are after,
or to make the innocent woman aware that she is under scrutiny.

"Above all, nothing must occur to