his home, retired at once
and fell into a deep sleep.

CHAPTER XI

Fresh as the early morning dew that hung, a gentle, swaying silver
mantle above the ceaseless currents of the North River, Britz awoke and
for a long time permitted his eyes to feast on the restful picture
offered by the now deserted Riverside Drive. Reluctantly he withdrew his
gaze from the alluring vista that spread from his window--the graveled
walks, the well-kept lawns sloping down to the stream, the wide stretch
of shimmering water sending slanting shafts of silver against the rocky
base of the opposite Palisades, and, in the dim distance, the softly
undulating Jersey hills meeting the sky line in a wavy gray thread
indistinctly outlined in the clearing mist.

Britz's salary was inadequate for an entire apartment on the Drive. But
he could afford a large square room overlooking the Hudson in the
apartment of a small family that understood the ways of their lodger and
ministered to his comfort.

A cold shower shook the last vestige of lassitude out of the detective's
system, and, after an ample breakfast prepared and served by the single
servant of the house, Britz devoted himself to the reports which Manning
had delivered to him the previous night.

For three hours he sat absorbed in silent study of the documents,
occasionally jotting down a brief note on a pad of paper or inter-lining
a paragraph which he regarded as having especial significance.

When he finished reading, he indulged in an additional hour of
thoughtful contemplation, arranging in their proper sequence the meager
facts which his men had discovered, and trying to draw from each bit of
new evidence its true relation to the crime.

Meager, indeed, was the helpful knowledge contained in the voluminous
reports of the men. Mrs. Collins had remained secluded in her home most
of the time; Collins had forsaken his customary haunts and also clung
desperately to the solitude of his Delmore Park mansion. Ward spent his
days at his business and his nights at his home. But around Beard things
were transpiring, although the detectives spying on him in the Tombs had
been unable to acquaint themselves with the precise nature of the moves
he was making to accomplish his release from prison.

No trace had been obtained of the butler who vanished with the documents
which Britz had gathered in Beard's home. But of the servant's eventual
capture Britz had not the slightest doubt. It w