ave at one end, there was consequently little
or no traffic and, for the great part of the day and night, the silence
was as deep and unbroken as in the open country.

With his neighbors Signor Keralio was distantly polite, but never
intimate. The district was a poor one, being settled mostly by Italian
laborers who rose and went to bed with the sun and toiled too long and
too hard each day to bother their heads as to why such a fine gentleman
as the Signor appeared to be, should live in such squalid quarters. No
one had ever been admitted to his flat. If the baker called, he left
the bread on the mat; if a chance peddler or book agent happened to
wander in, he had to talk through closed doors. The Signor was always
busy and could not be disturbed. The lights often burned all night
long, and sometimes people drove up in a taxi and went away again. For
a while the corner gossips speculated idly as to who he might be, but
gradually they lost all interest. When he purchased trifles at the
corner grocery he gave out casually that he was a newspaper man and had
to work all night, and the fact that muffled sounds of hammering and
machinery in motion had been heard at all hours, only helped to make
the explanation more plausible.

To-night, Keralio was perhaps more anxious than at any time to
discourage callers--especially should they happen to be inquisitive
secret service agents. Another few days and he would have nothing more
to fear. The presses would soon have completed their work and $500,000
worth of as fine a $10 counterfeit as ever deceived a bank teller would
be ready for distribution. Half of them had already been run off and,
as he held them up to the light and critically examined the silken
thread that ran here and there through the specially prepared paper and
noted the careful coloring, the beautifully geometrical lathe work and
skilfully traced signatures, he silently congratulated himself. Here
was half a million dollars' worth of splendid currency. Detection was
absolutely impossible. Had not Francois already succeeded in passing a
lot? After all had been disposed of, he could afford to take a rest.
On the proceeds of this rich haul, he could live like a prince for a
few years in Europe, and when that was all gone, he still had the
diamonds to fall back upon. Glancing at the clock, he wondered why
Handsome did not come. He was anxious to get possession of the
diamonds. It was too soon to att