ll bet you a dollar to a doughnut that such a witness appears
whether you get him or not."

Chick looked hurt for a minute, and then he caught a gleam in Nick's
eye.

"I begin to understand you," said he.

"Your plan," Nick went on, "is to circulate among the young men who
whisper their love in the paths of that particular region. Find who was
there on Monday night. It is not easy, but you can do it."

"I will get about it at once," said Chick.

After this conversation, Nick went to see Lawrence Deever.

"Poor Pat's body is in the house," said he, meeting Nick at the door;
"but I have kept my promise to you."

"Nobody knows of it, then?"

"Not from me or any of my friends."

"That is as it should be."

"I begin to believe," said Deever, "your idea is to spring this thing on
old Jarvis complete. Make the case iron-clad; tie him up double and
twisted; and then let it come out in the papers."

His eyes shone with malignity.

"I was surprised," he continued, "to see nothing about it in the papers
this morning. Why do you suppose that fellow skipped out of the garden?
Who was he, anyway?"

"Didn't you know him?" said Nick, who always escaped a falsehood when he
could.

"No, I didn't."

"He may have run away, because he couldn't stand that horrible sight any
longer, and he may have been ashamed to confess that his nerves were so
weak."

"Perhaps. It doesn't matter. What is to be done to-day?"

"The only evidence I now require," said Nick, "is something to show that
your brother's body was hidden in the vacant lot and brought into the
garden by Jarvis."

"Why do you need that? But never mind; I will see what can be done."

They separated then, and until evening Nick saw neither Deever nor
Chick.

But about six o'clock he met Chick by appointment in Deever's house.
Deever himself was not present.

Chick was accompanied by a young man and a pretty young woman.

He presented them as Margaret Allen and Henry Prescott. Both lived on
One Hundred and Thirty-fifth street, Prescott in a boarding-house and
Margaret with her father.

By the secret sign Chick communicated his belief--founded, of course,
upon investigations which he had made--that Prescott and Miss Allen were
present to give true testimony.

"These two witnesses," said he, in conclusion, "will supply the only
link in the chain which has been missing up to this time."

CHAPTER VII.

THE MAN WITH THE SACK.

"I will have your stor