nitor replied. "I don't know where she was--didn't hear. While she
was gone, there was a man nurse 'tended to her father--cooked the meals
and kept the apartment clean and took him out in his wheel chair. Miss
Kate has a maid they call Marie--a big, ugly woman. She takes care of
things generally when she is here, but she was away with Miss Kate."

"How long have they lived here?" Farland asked.

"About three years, sir. But I don't know much about them. They ain't
the kind of folks a man can find out a lot about. They act peculiar
sometimes."

"Are they rich?"

"My gracious, no!" said the old janitor. "They pay their rent on time,
and they always seem to have plenty to eat, and I guess they can afford
to keep that maid and hire a nurse once in a while, but they ain't what
you'd call rich. But Miss Kate comes home in a big automobile now and
then, and she seems to have a lot of clothes. There's something funny
about it, at that."

"Think she isn't a decent woman?" Farland asked.

"Oh, I don't think she's a bad sort, sir, if that is what you mean. She
doesn't seem to be, at all. I guess she gets her swell clothes honest
enough. I think that she works for somebody and has to dress that way."

"Do they get much mail and have many visitors?"

"They get a few letters, and some newspapers and magazines," the janitor
replied. "And they don't seem to have many visitors. I've seen a man
come here once or twice to see them, and once he brought Miss Kate home
in an auto. He looks like a rich man."

"Is he old or young?" Farland asked.

"Oh, he has gray hair, sir, and looks like a distinguished gentleman,
like a lawyer or something. I guess he's rich. I think maybe he is an
old friend of Mr. Gilbert's, or something like that."

"They live on the third floor, don't they?"

"Yes, sir."

"Any vacant apartments up there?"

"Why, the apartment adjoining theirs happens to be vacant just now,
sir."

"You take me up to that vacant apartment," Jim Farland directed. "Let me
in without making any noise, and then forget all about me until I speak
to you again. Here is a nice little bill, and there will be more if you
attend to business. I'm an officer, so you'll not get in trouble with
the landlord."

The old janitor accepted the bill gladly, and led the way back to the
house. Jim Farland refused to use the elevator; he insisted on walking
up the stairs, and on going up noiselessly. When they reached the third
floor, he was