the way," he said in a low voice, "it's just as well we didn't take
Kasker in with us. He's a loud-mouthed fool. I've tested him and find
he blats out everything he knows."

"We do not need him, since I've decided to finance the affair,"
returned the woman, and Josie recognized her voice. It was the great
Mrs. Charleworth herself. Mrs. Charleworth, in secret conference with
Abe Kauffman, the suspender salesman!

Then Josie experienced another surprise. A second man stepped through
the shadowy doorway, joining Kauffman on the steps.

"It seems to me," said this last person, "that there is danger in
numbers. Of course, that's your affair, Kauffman, and none of my
business, but if I'm to help you pull it off, I'd rather there wouldn't
be too many of us. It's a ticklish thing, at the best, and--"

"Shut up!" growled Kauffman, suspiciously peering around him into the
darkness. "The less we talk in the open, the better."

"That is true. Good night," said the woman, and went in, closing the
door behind her.

"I think I will light a cigar," said Kauffman.

"Wait until you are in the street," cautioned the other.

They walked on the grass, avoiding the paths and keeping in the darkest
places. Finally they emerged upon the sidewalk, and finding the coast
clear, traveled on side by side.

At times they conversed in low tones, so low that the little red-headed
girl, dodging through the parkings in their wake, could not overhear
the words they spoke. But as they approached the more frequented part
of the town, they separated, Kauffman turning into Broadway and the
other continuing along a side street.

Josie O'Gorman followed the latter person. He was tall and thin and
stooped a trifle. She had been unable, so far, to see his face. He
seemed, from the turnings he made, to be skirting the business section
rather than pass directly through it. So the girl took a chance, darted
down one street and around the corner of another, and then slipped into
a dim doorway near which hung an electric street-light.

She listened eagerly and soon was rewarded by a sound of footsteps. The
man she was shadowing leisurely approached, passed under the light and
continued on his way, failing to note the motionless form of the girl
in the doorway.

Josie gave a little laugh.

"You're a puzzling proposition, Professor," she whispered to herself,
"and you came near fooling me very properly. For I imagined you were on
your way to Washington