side his chief to
the drug-store in silence. Now, as they rushed across the city, he put
a timid question with a touch of bluff bravado he did not feel.

"We'll get her back sure, don't you reckon?"

"We'll do our best. Don't you worry. That won't buy us anything."

"No--no, I ain't a-worryin' none, but--Clay, I'd hate a heap for any
harm to come to that li'l' girl." His voice quavered.

"Sho! We're right on their heels, Johnnie. So are the cops. We'll
make a gather and get Kitty back all right."

Miss Annie Millikan's pert smile beamed through the window at Clay when
he stepped up.

"Hello, Mr. Flat-Worker," she sang out. "How many?"

"I'm not going in to see the show to-night. I want to talk with you if
you can get some one to take yore place here."

"Say, whatta you think I am--one o' these here Fift' Avenoo society
dames? I'm earnin' my hot dogs and coffee right at this window. . . .
Did you say two, lady?" She shoved two tickets through the window in
exchange for dimes.

Clay explained that his business was serious. "I've got to see you
alone--now," he added.

"If you gotta you gotta." The girl called an usher, who found a second
usher to take her place.

Annie walked down the street a few steps beside Clay. The little
puncher followed them dejectedly. His confidence had gone down to
chill zero.

"What's the big idea in callin' me from me job in the rush hours?"
asked Miss Millikan. "And who's this gumshoe guy from the bush league
tailin' us? Breeze on and wise Annie if this here business is so
important."

Clay told his story.

"Some of Jerry's strong-arm work," she commented.

"Must be. Can you help me?"

Annie looked straight at him, a humorous little quirk to her mouth.
"Say, what're you askin' me to do--t'row down my steady?"

Which remark carries us back a few days to one sunny afternoon after
Clay's midnight call when he had dropped round to see Miss Annie. They
had walked over to Gramercy Park and sat down on a bench as they
talked. Most men and all women trusted Clay. He had in him some
quality of unspoken sympathy that drew confidences. Before she knew it
Annie found herself telling him the story of her life.

Her father had been a riveter in a shipyard and had been killed while
she was a baby. Later her mother had married unhappily a man who
followed the night paths of the criminal underworld. Afterward he had
done time at Sing Sing. Through him Annie had