e patrolman solemnly.

The youth smiled.

Evan waved it away.

"Well, what are the circumstances?" asked the Lieutenant. "Will you
make a charge?"

"I've been fooled!" Evan said bitterly. Suddenly a light broke on him;
he struck his forehead. "I see it now! This man's job was simply to
lead me away while another came and got the money!"

"Well, will you make a charge?"

Evan quickly reflected. There was not much use airing the case in
court if the principal evidence was gone. "Let him go," he said.
"He's not the one I want."

Without more ado Evan hastened out. The youth presumably was allowed
to follow. The taxicab was at the curb. Evan flung himself in.

"Back to the library!" he ordered.

He sought out his friend the librarian. A hasty investigation showed
that Lockhart's History had been collected in due course from the table
and returned to the shelves. It had not been called for since. The
money was gone, of course.

"His confederate was waiting there in the reading-room, perhaps at the
same table," Evan said gloomily. "As soon as I was out of the way he
got the money. What a fool I was!"

"But how could you have foreseen that?" said the librarian.

Evan then had the pleasant task of returning to the Deaves house and
telling them what had happened. Father and son were waiting for him in
the library. They instantly saw by his face that things had not gone
well, and each snarled according to his nature. When he heard that the
money was gone the old man broke into piteous lamentations.

"Five thousand dollars! Five thousand dollars! All that money! Flung
to the rats of the city to gnaw!"

"What's the matter with you?" snapped his son. "It was my money."

"I earned it, didn't I? You have nothing but what I gave you!"

"We may get them yet through the banks," suggested Evan.

"Yah! We'll never get them now!"

But however they might quarrel with each other, father and son united
in blaming Evan.

"Look at him!" cried the old man, beside himself. "He knows where the
money's gone! Of course he didn't catch them. I believe he engineered
the whole thing!"

"Be quiet, Papa," said George Deaves in a panic. He turned to Evan
with an anxiety almost obsequious. "Don't mind him," he said. "He's
excited. You'd better go now. But I'll see you later."

Evan was not deceived. It was clear that George no less than his
father believed that he was a party to the crime, but was a