opened it.

"Are you this here detective feller?" he asked bluntly.

"I am Mister P. Gubb, deteckating and paper-hanging done, to command
at your service," admitted Mr. Gubb. "Won't you take a seat onto a
chair?"

"Depends," said Mr. Gubb's visitor, keeping his hand on the doorknob.
"I'll put it to you like this: Say some guy stole something from me,
and I was willing to pay you for finding out who stole it and for
getting it back--you'd take a job like that and say nothing about it
to anybody, wouldn't you?"

"Most certainly sure," agreed Mr. Gubb.

"That's the idee! You'd keep it dark. It wouldn't be nobody's business
but yours and mine, would it? It would be a quiet little deal between
you and me, and nobody would know anything about it. Hey?"

"Exactly sure," said Philo Gubb. "The deteckative business is
conducted onto an absolutely quiet Q.T. basis."

"Correct!" said his visitor. "I see you and me can do business. Now,
my name is Gus P. Smith, and I've had one of the rawest deals handed
me a man ever had handed him. I was coming along down one of these
alleys between streets this morning and--"

He stopped short and turned to the door. Some one had tapped on the
panels. Mr. Smith opened the door the merest crack and peered out. He
closed it again instantly.

"Somebody to see you," he whispered. "What I've got to say I want kept
private. I'll be back."

He opened the door and slipped out, and as he went a second visitor
entered. The newcomer was somewhat tall and thin, and his hair was
long, so long it fell upon his shoulders in greasy curls. He wore a
rather ancient frock coat and a black slouch hat, and a touch of style
was added by his gray kid gloves, although the weather was average
summer weather. His face was thin and adorned by a silky brown beard,
divided at the chin and falling in two carefully arranged points. He
closed the door carefully, first looking into the hall to see that Mr.
Gus P. Smith had disappeared.

"Mr. P. Gubb, the detective?" he asked.

"Most absolutely sure," said Mr. P. Gubb.

"My name," said Mr. Gubb's visitor, "is one you are doubtless familiar
with. I am Alibaba Singh."

"Pleased to meet your acquaintance," said Mr. Gubb. "What can I aim to
do for you?"

Mr. Alibaba Singh brought a chair close to Mr. Gubb's desk and seated
himself. He leaned close to Mr. Gubb--so close that Mr. Gubb scented
the rank odor of cheap hair-oil--and whispered.

"Everything is to be st