out of the window, he crossed the courtyard and scaled the
fire-escape. Then, once more in his own room, he sat upon the edge of
the bed.

"Well," said he, "the new one is here. I felt sure it was coming; but,"
and he gripped the edge of the iron cot hard, "I never expected it to be
anything like this."

CHAPTER XI

DENNISON TALKS ONCE MORE

By noon next day, Bat Scanlon had gotten into communication with
Ashton-Kirk; the two had lunch in the quiet depths of a rathskeller,
where they ate and talked, and afterward smoked, to the drone of some
stringed instruments.

Scanlon told of his experiences of the previous night, and the
criminologist listened with the keenest interest.

"So," said he, at length, "our friend, Big Slim, proves to be a person
of some parts. I must meet him. And the Swiss!" Here Ashton-Kirk uttered
a little clicking sound, expressive of great admiration. "If criminal he
be, he is of the superlative sort. As you have just remarked, when that
kind _are_ crooked, their angles are of the deadliest. It will be my
good fortune, perhaps, when meeting the burglar, to encounter this
gentleman also."

"But Nora," questioned Bat, coming to the point which was of most
interest to him, "what of her? What about her being in that place?"

Ashton-Kirk bent his brows, and one well kept hand smoothed the shaven
chin.

"You say," and there was an inquiring glint in his eyes, "she was rather
on friendly terms with the burglar."

"Why," replied Bat, reluctantly, "I wouldn't say friendly, exactly. She
was laughing and did seem very much at her ease while she talked to him,
I'll admit that. But what of the other things? What of the creeping
across the room with the gun in her hand--of her listening at the wall?
And what of the look of fear I saw on her face when that fellow opened
the door for her to go out?"

Ashton-Kirk nodded.

"Of course," said he. "We must not overlook anything." Glancing at his
watch, and apparently dismissing this particular point from his mind, he
added: "It's now two-thirty, and I want to run around to the Polo Club.
Will you come along?"

Mr. Scanlon was willing, and so they made their way from the rathskeller
into the sunlight. The Polo Club occupied a magnificent modern building
in a prominent location. They passed in at a door which was opened by a
man in uniform, ostentatious in its soberness; at the end of a room,
rich in rugs and paintings, they encountered another