uniform for a bit."

"You amaze me by your generosity," murmured Gladwin as he pocketed the
$500 bill.

"Oh," said the other easily, while he again listened at the door. "I'm
not a regular crook--I'm in the picture business."

"Still, if you kept that bill it might help you get better accommodations
when you reach Sing Sing."

"If I don't need it till then I won't need it for a long, long time."

"You mean you think you're going to escape?"

Gladwin slid down from the table and leaned against it, making no
effort to conceal the admiration he experienced for this man's
superhuman aplomb.

"And with guards all around the house and policemen tearing thirty
rooms apart upstairs and camping on the roof scuttle--yes, and more
coming, maybe."

"I venture to hope so," chuckled the other. "I admit it's close enough
to be interesting."

"Well, I'll say one thing for you," the young millionaire said
earnestly, "you're the coolest chap I ever hope to meet. You're a
marvel."

"Built to order to work in story books, eh? Well, to be candid with
you, McGinty, there are times when I'm not so cool as I look. I'm
almost human."

"Those cops will finish their work soon--then they'll come in here,"
Gladwin warned him.

"I'm listening for them," said Wilson softly, putting his ear to the
door again.

"Just because your pistol prevents me from calling them now, don't
think"----

"This gun isn't stopping you," came the short reply. "If you wanted to
call them you'd take a chance--I've found that out in the last hundred
seconds or so."

"Thank you for the compliment, but I"----

"Well, I'll prove it," the thief intervened, and tossed the gun to
Gladwin, who caught it as if it were something hot. "Go ahead and call
them."

"How do you know I wouldn't call them?" the young man asked, examining
the automatic and finding it empty.

"Don't be a child," shrugged the other. "You closed these doors, and
you butted in about the 'Blue Boy' just as that Central Office owl
produced his jewelry. Yes, and you stumbled against the chest and knew
that I was in it."

"But I say," asked Gladwin, abruptly. "How did you come to use my
name?"

"It wasn't safe to use mine, and when I met Miss----that girl--your
name was in my mind--I borrowed it."

"That's the thing I can't forgive you for," said Gladwin, regretfully--"to
deceive her as you did. That was rotten."

"I don't care for your opinion on that," said the picture expert,
war