guile; it means a dash of the
knowing at every step. You are as innocent as a babe, and you haven't
the guile of an unfledged chicken. You leave this matter with me. I
begin to think I'd like to see Miss Clay. I admire that handsome,
dashing sort of girl--yes, that I do. All I want you to do, Jim, is to
introduce me to the young lady. If her father is a pawnbroker he must
have a bit of money to give her, and a gel with a fat purse is just my
style. You come along to the Clays and give me a footing in the house,
and that's all I ask."

Jim hesitated.

"I don't like it," he said.

"Don't like it," repeated Sampson, mimicking his manner. "I wouldn't
give much for that vow of yours, young man. Why, you are a soft Sawny.
You want to clear your own girl?"

"That I do, God knows."

"Then introduce me to Miss Clay."

"Oh, Sampson, I hope I'm doing right."

"Fiddlesticks with your right. I tell you this is my affair. Come
along now, or it will be too late."

Sampson took down his hat from the wall, and Jim, somewhat unwillingly,
followed him out of the room and downstairs. He did not like the job,
and began to wish he had never consulted Sampson. But the detective's
cheery and pleasant talk very soon raised his spirits, and by the time
the two young men had reached the sign of the Three Balls, Jim had
persuaded himself that he was acting in a very manly manner, and that
dear little Alison would soon be his promised wife.

Compared to Jim Hardy and George Sampson the Clays were quite wealthy
folk. Louisa need not have gone into a shop at all unless she so
pleased, but she was a vivacious young person, who preferred having a
purse of her own to being dependent on her father. She liked to show
herself off, and had the sense to see that she looked better in her
neat black alpaca with its simple trimmings than in any of her
beflowered and bespangled home dresses. The Clays were having friends
to supper this special evening, and the mirth was fast and hilarious
when Hardy and Sampson entered the room. Hardy had never seen Louisa
before in her evening dress. It gave her a blooming and buxom
appearance. The dress was of a flaming red color, slightly open at the
neck, and with elbow sleeves. Louisa started and colored when she saw
Jim. Her big eyes seemed to flash, and Sampson noticed that she gave
him a bold, admiring glance.

"She is at the bottom of this, if ever gel was," muttered the detective
to