itated and finally stopped and
began rummaging in the basket, as if searching for the paper he
himself had just dropped there. The boy made up his mind--he's a sharp
one, sir, he'd be good for this business--that the stranger wasn't
after his own letter, at all, but the one Mr. Lawton had torn across,
and in a spirit of mischief, he walked up to the man and offered to
help.

"'This is your letter, sir. I saw you crumple it up just now. That
torn sheet of paper belongs to one of the other guests.'

"According to his story, he forced Addison's own letter on him, and
walked off with the waste-basket to empty it, and if looks could kill,
he'd have been a dead boy after one glance from the stranger. That was
all he had to tell, and he wouldn't have remembered such a trifling
incident for a matter of two years and more, if it hadn't been for
something which happened late that night. He didn't see it, being off
duty, but another boy did, and the next day they compared notes. They
were undecided as to whether they should go to the manager of the
hotel and make a report, or not, but being only kids, they were afraid
of getting into trouble themselves, so they waited. Addison departed
suddenly that morning, however, and as Mr. Lawton never gave any sign
of being aware of what had taken place, they kept silent. I located
the second boy, and got his story at first hand. His name is Johnnie
Bradley and he's as stupid as the other one is sharp.

"Johnnie was on all night, and about one o'clock he was sent out to
the casino on the pier just in front of the hotel, with a message.
When he was returning, he noticed a tiny, bright light darting quickly
about in Mr. Lawton's rooms, as if some one were carrying a candle
through the suite and moving rapidly. He remembered that Mr. Lawton
and his daughter had motored off somewhere just after dinner to be
gone overnight, so he went upstairs to investigate, without mentioning
the matter to the clerk who was dozing behind the desk in the office.
There was a chambermaid on night duty at the end of the hall, but she
was asleep, and as he reached the head of the stairs, Johnnie observed
that some one had, contrary to the rules, extinguished the lights near
Mr. Lawton's rooms. He went softly down the hall, until he came to the
door of number seventy-four. A man was stooping before it, fumbling
with a key, but whether he was locking or unlocking the door, it did
not occur to Johnnie to question in