lf in fact between the devil and the deep
sea--though this particular devil appeared rather as an angel of light.

Now, at his somewhat feeble remark in reply to her query, the childish
face grew as hard as its curving contours would permit.

"Sir!" she cried indignantly. Her little head was thrown back in
scornful reproof, and she turned a shoulder toward the official
contemptuously.

"Now, now!" Burke exclaimed in remonstrance. After all, he could not be
brutal with this guileless maiden. He must, however, make the situation
clear to her, lest she think him a beast--which would never do!

"You see, young lady," he went on with a gentleness of voice and manner
that would have been inconceivable to Dacey and Chicago Red; "you see,
the fact is that, even if you were introduced to this Mary Turner by
young Mr. Gilder, this same Mary Turner herself is an ex-convict, and
she's just been arrested for murder."

At the dread word, a startling change was wrought in the girl. She
wheeled to face the Inspector, her slender body swaying a little toward
him. The rather heavy brows were lifted slightly in a disbelieving
stare. The red lips were parted, rounded to a tremulous horror.

"Murder!" she gasped; and then was silent.

"Yes," Burke went on, wholly at ease now, since he had broken the ice
thus effectually. "You see, if there's a mistake about you, you don't
want it to go any further--not a mite further, that's sure. So, you see,
now, that's one of the reasons why I must know just who you are." Then,
in his turn, Burke put the query that the girl had put to him a little
while before. "You see that, don't you?"

"Oh, yes, yes!" was the instant agreement. "You should have told me all
about this horrid thing in the first place." Now, the girl's manner was
transformed. She smiled wistfully on the Inspector, and the glance of
the blue eyes was very kind, subtly alluring. Yet in this unbending,
there appeared even more decisively than hitherto the fine qualities
in bearing of one delicately nurtured. She sank down in a chair by the
desk, and forthwith spoke with a simplicity that in itself was somehow
peculiarly potent in its effect on the official who gave attentive ear.

"My name is Helen Travers West," she announced.

Burke started a little in his seat, and regarded the speaker with a new
deference as he heard that name uttered.

"Not the daughter of the railway president?" he inquired.

"Yes," the girl admitted. The