denly into a complete whole, and I knew instantly why the
thumbing of the pocket-roll in my friend's generous offer to lend me
money had struck the chord of familiarity. The two hand-bags turned
over to the platform porter were the same two that I had seen snatched
out of a cab in front of the Marlborough entrance while their owner was
digging in his pockets for the cab fare, and the coat and hat Barton
had donned for the debarking were the fur-lined luxury and the soft
felt worn by the man who had dropped the black pocket-book.

"Well, old boy," he said, gripping my hand in leave-taking, "the best
of friends must part. I suppose you'll wait here to take your Sedalla
train. Maybe we'll get together again in a day or so. If we
shouldn't, here's hoping that the world uses you well from this on--to
sort of make up for what has gone, you know."

"Wait a minute," I gasped, as he was turning to follow the red-cap.
"You said you were at the Marlborough last night. I was there--on
an--on an errand. Did you come in late?--in a cab?"

"I did; and I had a funny experience--or have I told you about it?"

"No, you didn't tell me," I contrived to say.

"I didn't know but I had; I've talked so much about everything to-day.
It was this way: when I got out of the cab I saw a sort of hobo-ish
looking fellow standing at the curb with his hands in his pockets and
all doubled over as if he were cold. It never occurred to me for a
minute that he was anything but what he looked to be."

The porter, with Barton's suit-cases, was disappearing in the direction
of the cab stand, and I suggested that we walk along. I had learned
all I needed to know. But Horace Barton never left a story unfinished
if he could help it.

"Yes, sir; that fellow fooled me good and proper," he went on, as we
hurried to overtake the suit-cases. "He wasn't any hobo at all; he was
a pickpocket, and one of the finest. I was hunting for a half-dollar
to pay the cabby, and I could have sworn that that 'dip' never got
within six feet of me. And yet he 'frisked' me before I could get
across the sidewalk and into the hotel. Luckily, all he got was a
little pocketbook with some sixty or so dollars in it."

"You reported your loss to the police?" I asked.

"Not for one little minute!" was the laughing rejoinder. "I didn't
discover the loss until after I got up to my room and found the St.
Louis wire waiting for me; and then there wasn't time. But I shouldn