klyn."

"Have you been threatened in any way? Have you any enemy who might have
attempted to steal the child?"

"Nothing of the kind. I brought the children to the park just for an
outing and with no thought that anything so horrible could happen."

It was incredible that any one could lie with so convincing an air. He
was satisfied that she was Mrs. Putney Congdon, and that the child she
had called Edith was the original of the photograph he had seen at
Bailey Harbor. And the stealing of the child was in itself but the
actual carrying out of her husband's threat. He knew far too much about
the Congdons for his own peace of mind, but he was unwilling to desert
her in her perplexities. When the owners of several machines offered to
take her home, she glanced about uncertainly and her eyes falling upon
him seemed to invite his assistance.

"Pardon me, but if I can serve you in any way--"

"Thank you," she said with relief. "I must get away from this; it's
unbearable."

He put her and the boy into a taxi, whose driver had been early on the
scene, and drove away with them, with a final promise to the sergeant to
report later at the park station.

"Brooklyn!" he ordered.

For a few minutes she was busy comforting the child and Archie deep in
thought turned to meet the searching gaze of her gray eyes.

"You are a gentleman; I am sure of that; and I feel that I can trust
you."

That the wife of a man he had tried to kill and possibly had slain
should be paving the way for confidences, gave him a bewildered sense of
being whisked through some undiscovered country where the impossible
had become the real.

"I'm in a strange predicament, and I'm forced to ask your help. The name
and address I gave the police were fictitious. I know it has a queer
look; but I had to do it. I know perfectly well who carried away my
little girl. The man and woman you saw at the car were servants employed
by my father-in-law, who cordially dislikes me. There had been
trouble--"

With a shrug she expressed her impatience of her troubles, and bent over
the boy who was demanding to be taken to Edith.

"You'll see Edith soon, dear, so don't trouble any more," she said
kindly.

Having quieted the child, she returned to her own affairs, glancing out
to note the direction of the car. She had done some quick thinking in
making her decision to hide her identity from the police. There was
fight in her eyes and Archie realized that he had to