ctly tranquil. It didn't seem possible that
an international episode was in process of incubation in that quiet
neighborhood. I began to think that the general distrust of the German
woman by her associates might be responsible for Pierre's story. But,
viewed in any light, I had a duty to perform. If Elsie had visited the
house and purloined the fan, she would be very likely to get rid of it
as quickly as possible, and I determined to keep watch. I drew the
blinds, got into my dressing-gown and, reinforcing the lampshade with a
newspaper to deaden the light, proceeded to read.

It was on toward one o'clock and I was dozing when a sound roused me. A
door on the Flynn side of the hall creaked; there was silence, then I
heard furtive steps on the stair. I snapped out my light and peered out
of the window just as Elsie's robust figure disappeared into the
shadows. I was about to follow when the creaking of the Flynn door was
repeated. In a moment another peep through the shade showed me Flynn
himself, and he, too, quickly vanished. Here was a situation indeed! If
Elsie was keeping tryst with her co-conspirator of the afternoon and her
husband was spying upon her, a row of large proportions was likely to
result at any moment. I leaned from the window as far as I dared, and
saw the woman close to the wall at the farther end of the building. The
scene was well set for trouble, and I was wondering what I could do to
avert a disturbance and the exposure of the foolish woman when the whole
matter was taken out of my hands.

"You fool! You scoundrel!" she bellowed in German. "That you should
think me a plaything to commit a robbery for you! That I should steal
from my mistress to satisfy you, you piece of swine-flesh!"

I had often heard Elsie vocally disciplining her Irish husband and knew
the power of her lungs and the vigor of her invective, but she seemed
bent upon apprising the whole commonwealth of Connecticut of the fact
that she was vastly displeased with the person she was addressing, who
was certainly not Flynn. Amid sounds of a scuffle and the continuous
outpouring of billingsgate the light over the garage door flashed on
suddenly and disclosed Flynn in the act of precipitating himself into
the fray. Elsie had grasped, and was stoutly clinging to a tall man who
was trying to free himself of her muscular embrace. Her cries meanwhile
included some of the raciest terms in the German dictionary and
others--mouthfuls of fr