doubly alert.

The old janitor pointed out the door of the vacant apartment, and handed
Farland a key. Then he pattered back down the stairs. Farland slipped
along the hall, unlocked the door of the vacant apartment, darted
inside, and locked the door again, putting the key in his pocket. And
then he moved noiselessly through the apartment until he had reached the
front.

He could hear voices in the apartment adjoining, and could make out the
conversation. A woman was speaking--Farland decided that she was Kate
Gilbert--and the weak voice of a sick man was answering her now and
then.

"Let's not talk about it any more to-night, father," the girl was
saying. "You'll not sleep well, if you get to thinking about it. You
must go to bed now, and we'll have a real talk about things when I have
something of importance to tell you. Get a good sleep, and in the
morning Marie can take you out in the Park."

Jim Farland could hear the old man mutter some reply, and then there
reached his ears the squeaking of a wheel chair being rolled across the
floor. He remained for a time standing against the wall, listening. He
decided that those in the Gilbert apartment were preparing to retire.
Half an hour later, Farland slipped from the room and went to the
basement to find the janitor.

"Here's your key," he said. "I'll be back here in the morning, and I'll
want to see you. And remember--you're not to say a word about all this."

"Not a single word, sir."

Farland went back to the taxicab and drove to his own modest home, where
he tumbled into bed and slept the sleep of the just. When Jim Farland
slept, he slept--and when he worked, he worked. Farland did not mix
labor and rest.

He arose early, hurried through his breakfast, got another taxicab and
went up into the Eighties again. The old janitor was sweeping off the
walk in front of the apartment house. The curtains at the windows of the
Gilbert apartment were still down.

"Give me that key again and give me a pass key, too," Farland told the
old janitor. "If the maid takes Mr. Gilbert out, and Miss Gilbert is
gone at the same time, I want to get into their apartment and take a
look around. Understand? And I'll want you to watch, so I'll not be
caught in there."

"I understand, sir. Here are the keys."

Farland reached the vacant apartment without being seen. The Gilberts
were up now and eating breakfast. He could hear Kate Gilbert trying to
cheer her father, but not a