eting on to-night, of the Associated Brotherhood of the
Awl, the Plane and the Trowel (whatever that means), and it is the
speaker we want to see; the man who is to address them promptly at ten
o'clock. Do you object to meetings?"

"Is this a secret one?"

"It wasn't advertised."

"Are we carpenters or masons that we can count on admittance?"

"I am a carpenter. Don't you think you can be a mason for the occasion?"

"I doubt it, but--"

"Hush! I must speak to this man."

George stood back, and a few words passed between Sweetwater and a
shadowy figure which seemed to have sprung up out of the sidewalk.

"Balked at the outset," were the encouraging words with which the
detective rejoined George. "It seems that a pass-word is necessary,
and my friend has been unable to get it. Will the speaker pass out this
way?" he inquired of the shadowy figure still lingering in their rear.

"He didn't go in by it; yet I believe he's safe enough inside," was the
muttered answer.

Sweetwater had no relish for disappointments of this character, but it
was not long before he straightened up and allowed himself to exchange
a few more words with this mysterious person. These appeared to be of
a more encouraging nature than the last, for it was not long before the
detective returned with renewed alacrity to George, and, wheeling him
about, began to retrace his steps to the corner.

"Are we going back? Are you going to give up the job?" George asked.

"No; we're going to take him from the rear. There's a break in the
fence--Oh, we'll do very well. Trust me."

George laughed. He was growing excited, but not altogether agreeably
so. He says that he has seen moments of more pleasant anticipation.
Evidently, my good husband is not cut out for detective work.

Where they went under this officer's guidance, he cannot tell. The
tortuous tangle of alleys through which he now felt himself led was dark
as the nether regions to his unaccustomed eyes. There was snow under
his feet and now and then he brushed against some obtruding object, or
stumbled against a low fence; but beyond these slight miscalculations on
his own part, he was a mere automaton in the hands of his eager guide,
and only became his own man again when they suddenly stepped into an
open yard and he could discern plainly before him the dark walls of a
building pointed out by Sweetwater as their probable destination. Yet
even here they encountered some impediment which pr