ntly controlling herself, she lightly touched
Alora's arm and said in her usual soft voice:

"Sign your name, my dear, and then we will talk with this person."

Alora did not move to obey, for she had caught a signal from the
red-headed girl.

"I object to your signing that paper," protested the stranger, seating
herself in a vacant chair. "I haven't the faintest idea what it is
you're about to sign, but if I were you I wouldn't do it."

"It is the price of my liberty," explained Alora.

"Well, this is a free country and liberty doesn't cost anything. I've a
carriage waiting outside, and I will drive you back to the Colonel and
Mary Louise free of charge. You won't even have to whack up on the cab
hire."

The nurse slowly rose and faced the girl.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"No one of importance," was the answer. "I'm just Josie O'Gorman, the
daughter of John O'Gorman, of Washington, who is a lieutenant in the
government's secret service."

"Then you're a detective!"

"The aforesaid John O'Gorman declares I'm not. He says I must learn a
lot before I become a real detective, so at present I'm just
practicing. Mary Louise is my friend, you know," she continued, now
addressing Alora, "and you are a friend of Mary Louise; so, when you
mysteriously disappeared, she telegraphed me and I came on to hunt you
up. That wasn't an easy job for an amateur detective, I assure you, and
it cost me a lot of time and some worry, but glory be! I've now got you
located and Mrs. Orme's jig is up."

The nurse moved softly to the door that led into the passage and locked
it, putting the key into her pocket.

"Now," said she, with another flash of those curious eyes, "I have two
prisoners."

Josie laughed.

"I could almost have sworn you'd try that trick," she remarked. "It was
on the cards and you couldn't resist it. Permit me to say, Mrs. Orme,
that you're a rather clever woman, and I admire cleverness even when
it's misdirected. But my Daddy has taught me, in his painstaking way,
not to be caught napping. A good soldier provides for a retreat as well
as an advance. I've been on your trail for a long time and only this
morning succeeded in winning the confidence of the cabman who drove you
here. Wasn't sure, of course, that you were still here, until I saw
Alora's face at the window a while ago. Then I knew I'd caught you. The
cab is a closed one and holds four inside, so I invited three policeman
to accompany me. One i