en look, and his hand rose doubtfully to his
neck and then fell back again. The approaching man was tall, very
well-proportioned and easy of carriage; but the face--such of it as
could be seen between his cap and the high collar he had pulled up about
his ears, conveyed no exact impression to George's mind, and he did not
dare to give the signal Sweetwater expected from him. Yet as the man
went by with a dark and sidelong glance at them both, he felt his hand
rise again, though he did not complete the action, much to his own
disgust and to the evident disappointment of the watchful detective.

"You're not sure?" he now heard, oddly interpolated in the stream of
half-whispered talk with which the other endeavoured to carry off the
situation.

George shook his head. He could not rid himself of the old impression he
had formed of the man in the snow.

"Mr. Dunn, a word with you," suddenly spoke up Sweetwater, to the man
who had just passed them. "That's your name, isn't it?"

"Yes, that is my name," was the quiet response, in a voice which was
at once rich and resonant; a voice which George knew--the voice of the
impassioned speaker he had heard resounding through the sleet as he
cowered within hearing in the shed behind the Avenue A tenement. "Who
are you who wish to speak to me at so late an hour?"

He was returning to them from the door he had unlocked and left slightly
ajar.

"Well, we are--You know what," smiled the ready detective, advancing
half-way to greet him. "We're not members of the Associated Brotherhood,
but possibly have hopes of being so. At all events, we should like to
talk the matter over, if, as you say, it's not too late."

"I have nothing to do with the club--"

"But you spoke before it."

"Yes."

"Then you can give us some sort of an idea how we are to apply for
membership."

Mr. Dunn met the concentrated gaze of his two evidently unwelcome
visitors with a frankness which dashed George's confidence in himself,
but made little visible impression upon his daring companion.

"I should rather see you at another time," said he. "But--" his
hesitation was inappreciable save to the nicest ear--"if you will allow
me to be brief, I will tell you what I know--which is very little."

Sweetwater was greatly taken aback. All he had looked for, as he
was careful to tell my husband later, was a sufficiently prolonged
conversation to enable George to mark and study the workings of the face
he was n