ion was easy.

"I then ran over to New York and got the Splain story. I knew he was so
dead sure of having eluded everybody that he would stay here in
Furmville. But, to make it absolutely sure, I sent him yesterday a
telegram to keep him assured that I was working with him and ready to
share discoveries with him. And I confess it afforded me a little
pleasure, the sending of that wire. I was playing a kind of cat-and-mouse
game."

Bristow put up his hand, demanding attention. When Braceway ignored the
gesture, he leaned back, smiling, derisive.

"Morley's embezzlement and its consequences gave me a happy excuse for
keeping on this fellow's trail while he was busy perfecting the machinery
for Perry's destruction. The man's self-assurance, his conceit----"

"I've had enough of this!" Bristow cut in violently, exhibiting his first
deep emotion. He turned to Greenleaf:

"Haven't you had enough of this drool? What's the man trying to establish
anyhow? He talks in one breath about my having changed the outline of my
face and the shape of my mouth, and in the next second about recognizing
as me a photograph which he admits was taken at least six years ago!

"It's an alibi for himself, an excuse for not being able to prove that
I'm the man who pawned the jewelry in Baltimore! It's thinner than air!"

But Greenleaf's defection was now complete.

"Go on," he said to Braceway. The more he thought of the full extent to
which the embezzler had gulled him for the past week, the more he raged.

"Not for me! I don't want any more of the drivel!" Bristow objected
again, his voice raucous and still directed to Greenleaf. "What's _your_
idea? I admit I'm wanted in New York on a trumped-up charge of
embezzlement. This detective, by a stroke of blind luck, ran into that;
and, as I say, I admit it.

"You can deal with that as you see fit; that is, if you want to deal with
it after what I've done for law and order, and for you, in this murder
case.

"But you can't be crazy enough to take any stock in this nonsense about
my having been connected with the crime. Exercise your own intelligence!
Great God, man! Do you mean to say you're going to let him cram this into
you?"

He got himself more in hand.

"Think a minute. You know me well, chief. And you, Mr. Fulton, you're no
child to be bamboozled and turned into a laughing stock by a detective
who finds himself without a case--a pseudo expert on crime who tries to
work the age-