the glass door. In the hotel lobby were many
loungers. He saw a dozen pairs of eyes fixed upon him idly or curiously;
one pair might belong to the suspected detective. If he used the
telephone there would be a way of discovering the number he had asked
for. That would not do--not at all! He concluded not to telephone, at
present, and left the booth. His next act was to purchase a morning
paper, and seating himself carelessly in a chair he controlled the
impulse to search for a "scare head" on the abduction of Miss Merrick.
If he came across the item, very well; he would satisfy no critical eye
that might be scanning him by hunting for it with a show of eagerness.
The game was in his hands, he believed, and he intended to keep it
there.

Fogerty was annoyed by the man's evident caution. It would not be easy
to surprise Mershone in any self-incriminating action. But, after all,
reflected the boy, resting comfortably in the soft-padded cushions of a
big leather chair, all this really made the case the more interesting.
He was rather glad Mershone was in no hurry to precipitate a climax. A
long stern chase was never a bad chase.

By and bye another idea occurred to Charlie. He would call upon his
cousin Diana, and get her to telephone Madame Cerise for information
about Louise. It would do no harm to enlighten Diana as to what he had
done. She must suspect it already; and was she not a co-conspirator?
But he could not wisely make this call until the afternoon. So meantime
he took a stroll into Broadway and walked leisurely up and down that
thoroughfare, pausing occasionally to make a trifling purchase and
turning abruptly again and again in the attempt to discover who might be
following him. No one liable to be a detective of any sort could he
discern; yet he was too shrewd to be lulled into a false belief that his
each and every act was unobserved.

Mershone returned to his hotel, went to his room, and slept until after
one o'clock, as he had secured but little rest the night before in his
primitive quarters at the police station. It was nearly two when he
reappeared in the hotel restaurant for luncheon, and he took his seat
and ate with excellent appetite.

During this meal Mr. Fogerty also took occasion to refresh himself,
eating modestly at a retired table in a corner. Mershone's sharp eyes
noted him. He remembered seeing this youth at breakfast, and
thoughtfully reflected that the boy's appearance was not such as