another source we later learned of your adorable curly brown hair, your
calm, gray eyes, your strange aversion for the dangerous sex, even
though they be 'puffick loidies.' A fellow lodger of yours gave us
most of our information--or, let us say, a companion lodger. A lady, a
'puffick loidy,' a gimlet-eyed and talkative maiden, with a glorious
crown of golden hair--though, alas, I fear 'tis a drug-store gold."

"Good Lord--Miss Pincher!" exclaimed Martin.

He felt his ears burning, and knew he was blushing. Confound that
manicure girl! "Adorable hair--calm eyes" indeed! He shot a glance at
Ruth. She was laughing at his discomfiture.

"We discovered she lodged in your house and we trailed her to the
beauty parlor where she labors. Ruth pumped her."

"Oh, you are a fine favorite of hers," rallied Ruth. "She swears by
you, Mr. Blake. I happened to casually mention your name, and she was
charmed by the coincidence of your being a mutual friend. She gave you
a very fine character indeed, though, she hated to admit, you were not
as gallant as you might be. 'Regular goop with goils,' I believe she
said."

"Silly little mush-head," mumbled Martin, greatly confused. "Suppose
she told you everything she knew about me."

"Yes, and then some," remarked Little Billy. "Oh, Ruth has your entire
history, Martin Blake. But I would not blush about it. Indeed, if my
record were as good as yours, I would straighten my back. Ruth came
out of that beauty-parlor with a record that goes something like this:
very good-looking, muscular, studious, poor but honest, does not drink
or smoke to excess, though has been known to swear violently and
indulge in combat on occasion of coalman flogging horse up a hill, is
impervious to wiles of beskirted siren, be her hair ever so yellow, and
her eyes ever so blue.

"Frankly, we were disappointed by your uncompromising rectitude, friend
Martin. We were, you see, greatly desirous of obtaining that envelope
you had in your pocket. We had hoped to discover some weakness, some
vice, in your composition--a fondness for drink, or for women, or for
cards--something we might use as a leverage to pry loose from you that
envelope. We failed in our quest, and we had to abandon our safe
scheme of cunning in favor of more direct and violent methods.

"We hired an automobile for the day--I'll wager that garage man was
peevish when he discovered his machine abandoned in an alleyway,
today--an