was sufficiently pleased to have gained a very correct
notion of the style of clothing the gentleman wore, which, it is
needless to state, was most faithfully reproduced in the sketch, even if
the exact expression of the strong and masculine face was not.

"A really remarkable bit of work," admitted the young fellow when the
whole was completed. "And as true to the scene, too, as half the
illustrations given in the weekly papers. Would you mind letting me have
it as a _souvenir_?" he eagerly inquired. "I would like to show it to a
chap who was with me at the time. The likeness to the lady is
wonderful."

But Mr. Byrd, with his most careless air, had already thrust the picture
into his pocket, from which he refused to withdraw it, saying, with an
easy laugh, that it might come in play with him some time, and that he
could not afford to part with it. At which remark the young fellow
looked disappointed and vaguely rattled some coins he had in his pocket;
but, meeting with no encouragement from the other, forbore to press his
request, and turned it into an invitation to join him in a social glass
at the bar.

To this slight token of appreciation Mr. Byrd did not choose to turn a
deaf ear. So the drinks being ordered, he proceeded to clink glasses
with the youthful stranger, taking the opportunity, at the same time, of
glancing over to the large, well-built man whose quiet absorption in the
paper he was reading had so attracted his attention when he first came
in.

To his surprise he found that person just as engrossed in the news as
ever, not a feature or an eyelash appearing to have moved since the time
he looked at him last.

Mr. Byrd was so astonished at this that when he left the room a few
minutes later he took occasion in passing the gentleman, to glance at
the paper he was studying so industriously, and, to his surprise, found
it to be nothing more nor less than the advertising sheet of the New
York _Herald_.

"A fellow of my own craft," was his instantaneous conclusion. But a
moment's consideration assured him that this could not be, as no
detective worthy the name would place so little value upon the
understanding of those about him as to sit for a half-hour with his eyes
upon a sheet of paper totally devoid of news, no matter what his purpose
might be, or how great was his interest in the conversation to which he
was secretly listening. No; this gentleman was doubtless what he seemed
to be, a mere strange