while the coat was hanging in the lobby--"

There was a sound outside and a sharp knock at the door, and an instant
later Mr. Donovan entered, his face wreathed in smiles. Following him
was the woman who had checked the coats, a much frightened bell boy, and
a blue-uniformed policeman.

The woman was sobbing.

"Indeed, sir," she wailed, approaching Steve, "I never meant to keep the
pocketbook and make trouble for you. I have a boy of my own at home, a
lad about your age. What is to become of him now? Oh, dear; oh, dear!"

She burst into passionate weeping.

"Now see here, my good woman, stop all this crying and talk quietly,"
cut in the policeman in a curt but not unkind tone. "If you will tell us
the truth, perhaps we can help you. In any case we must know exactly
what happened."

"She must understand that anything she says can be used against her,"
cautioned the detective, who in spite of his eagerness to solve the
mystery was determined the culprit should have fair play.

"Indeed, I don't care, sir," protested the maid, wiping her eyes on her
ridiculously small apron. "I can't be any worse off than I am now with a
policeman taking me to the lock-up. I'll tell the gentlemen the truth, I
swear I will."

With a courtesy he habitually displayed toward all womanhood Mr. Tolman
drew forward a chair and she sank gratefully into it.

"I spied the bill book in the young gentleman's pocket the minute he
took off his coat," began she in a low tone. "It was bright colored and
as it was sticking part way out I couldn't help seeing it. Of course, I
expected he would take it with him into the dining room but when he
didn't I came to the conclusion that there couldn't be anything of value
in it. But by and by I had more coats to hang up and one of them, a big,
heavy, fur-lined one, brushed against the young gentleman's ulster and
knocked the pocketbook out on to the floor so that it lay open under the
coat rack. It was then that I saw it was stuffed full of papers and
things."

She stopped a moment to catch her breath and then went resolutely on:

"It seemed to me it was no sort of a plan to put the wallet back into
the lad's pocket, for when I wasn't looking somebody might take it. So I
decided I much better keep it safe for him, and maybe," she owned with a
blush, "get a good-sized tip for doing it. I have a big pocket in my
underskirt where I carry my own money and I slipped it right in there,
meaning to hand it to