k a great deal to startle a theatrical publicity man,
yet here was one who looked as though he had seen a ghost.

After a time Gregory straightened and moistened his dry lips.

"There's a man sitting down there--see here, the sixth row, next the
aisle; there's a girl in a blue dress beside him. See him? Do you know
who he is?"

"Never saw him before."

For perhaps two minutes Gregory continued to stare. Then he moved over
to the side of the house and braced against the wall continued his close
and anxious inspection. After a time he turned away and, passing behind
the boxes, made his way into the wings. Bassett's curiosity was aroused,
especially when, shortly after, Gregory reappeared, bringing with him
a small man in an untidy suit who was probably, Bassett surmised, the
stage manager.

He saw the small man stare, nod, stand watching, and finally disappear,
and Gregory resume his former position and attitude against the side
wall. Throughout the last act Gregory did not once look at the stage. He
continued his steady, unwavering study of the man in the sixth row seat
next the aisle, and Bassett continued his study of the little man.

His long training made him quick to scent a story. He was not sure, of
course, but the situation appeared to him at least suggestive. With the
end of the play he wandered out with the crowd, edging his way close to
the man and girl who had focused Gregory's attention, and following them
into the street. He saw only a tall man with a certain quiet distinction
of bearing, and a young and pretty girl, still flushed and excited, who
went up the street a short distance and got into a small and shabby car.
Bassett noted, carefully, the license number of the car.

Then, still curious and extremely interested, he walked briskly around
to the stage entrance, nodded to the doorkeeper, and went in.

Gregory was not in sight, but the stage manager was there, directing the
striking of the last set.

"I'm waiting for Gregory," Bassett said. "Hasn't fainted, has he?"

"What d'you mean, fainted?" inquired the stage manager, with a touch of
hostility.

"I was with him when he thought he recognized somebody. You know who.
You can tell him I got his automobile number."

The stage manager's hostility faded, and he fell into the trap. "You
know about it, then?"

"I was with him when he saw him. Unfortunately I couldn't help him out."

"It's just possible it's a chance resemblance. I'm darned i