w shall we approach his house?" asked Burke.

"You get out of the machine and go to the door. There's no need of
alarming his family. Just tell the servant who answers the door that
you want to speak to the boss--say that there's been a robbery down at
his office, and you want to speak to him privately. Tell the servant
not to let the other members of the family know about it, as it would
worry them."

"That's a good idea, Captain. I understand that his wife and daughter
are very fine women. It will save a terrible scene. What a shame to
make them suffer like this!"

"Yes, Burke. If these scoundrels only realized that their work always
made some good woman suffer--sometimes a hundred. Think of the women
that this villain has made to suffer, body and soul. Think of the
mothers' hearts he has broken while posing with his charity and his
Bible! All that wickedness is to be punished on his own wife and his
own daughter. I tell you, there's something in life which brings back
the sins of the fathers, all right, upon their children. The Good Book
certainly tells it right."

The auto was stopped before the handsome residence of the Purity
League's leader. It seemed a bitter tangle of Fate that in these
beautiful surroundings, with the broad blue Hudson River a few hundred
yards away, the green of the park trees, the happy throng of
pedestrians strolling and chatting along the promenade of the Drive, it
should be Burke's duty to drag to punishment as foul a scoundrel as
ever drew the breath of the beautiful spring air. The sun was setting
in the heights of Jersey, across the Hudson, and the golden light
tinted the carved stone doorway of Trubus's home, making Burke feel as
though he were acting in some stage drama, rather than real life. The
spotlight of Old Sol was on him as he rang the bell by the entry.

"Is Mr. Trubus home?" asked Burke of the portly butler who answered the
summons.

"Hi don't know, sir," responded the servant, in a conventional
monotone. "What nyme, sir?"

"Just tell him that it is a policeman. His office has been robbed, and
we want to get some particulars about it."

"Well, sir, he's dressing for dinner, sir. You'll 'ave to wyte, sir.
Hi wouldn't dare disturb 'im now, sir."

"You had better dare. This is very important to him. But don't
mention it to anyone else, for it would worry his wife and daughter."

As Burke was speaking, a big fashionable car drew up behind the one