t my feet; a small black pocketbook which the traveler had let
fall in his fumbling search for change.

Judged by any code of ethics--my own, for that matter--what followed
was entirely indefensible. The grab for the treasure, its swift
hiding, the breathless dash into the shadows of the nearest cross
street; all these named me for what I was at the moment--a
half-starved, half-frozen, despair-hounded thief. When I had made sure
that there was no policeman in sight I examined my prize by the light
of a crossing electric. The black pocketbook contained sixty-three
dollars in bills and a single half-dollar in silver. And a hasty
search revealed nothing by which the loser could be identified; there
were no papers, no cards, nothing but the money.

Though a desperate disregard for anything like property rights had
prompted the sudden snatch and the thief-like dash for cover, I am glad
to be able to say that common honesty, or some shadowy simulacrum of
it, revived presently and sent me back to the hotel, though not without
terrible foot-draggings, you may be sure. And as I went, many-tongued
temptation clamored riotously for a hearing: the man had so much--he
would never miss this carelessly spilt driblet; I had no means of
identifying him, and with the fur-lined coat removed I should probably
fail to recognize him; if I should try to describe him, the hotel
clerk, he of the detached and superior manner, would doubtless take the
pocketbook in charge and that would be the last I should ever hear of
it.

Giving these arguments their just weight, I hope I may take some small
credit for the perseverance which finally drove me through the swinging
doors and up to the clerk's counter. For the second time that night I
sought speech with the bediamonded chief lackey, and got it grudgingly.
No; no one had registered within the past few minutes, and no man
answering my exceedingly incomplete description had presented himself
at the counter. Conscious that I must do, there and then, all that
ever could be done, I persisted.

"The gentleman I speak of came in a cab and he had two hand-bags; they
were brought in by one of the bell-boys," I said, thinking that this
might afford the clue.

The clerk looked afar over my head. "Some guest who already has his
room and had gone to fetch his grips." Then, with the contemptuous
lip-curl that I had encountered too often not to recognize it at sight:
"Who are you, anyway?--a plain-