their coats.

"Never mind," said Marsh, "we shall be here only a few minutes," and
the man left the room.

Marsh now seated himself in the chair he had occupied on the
occasion of his previous visit, and Morgan and Tierney took chairs
on the opposite side of the fireplace. Hunt laid aside his book and
offered them cigars from a humidor. Marsh refused, calling attention
to the fact that he was lighting a cigarette, but Morgan and Tierney
accepted, and Hunt, selecting a cigar for himself, then settled down
among the cushions in a corner of the davenport.

"My story really begins two years ago, Mr. Hunt," said Marsh, "but I
will pass briefly over the early part of it by merely saying that at
that time I took up the trail of a counterfeiter, known as Clark
Atwood."

"Why should you take up the trail of a counterfeiter?" inquired
Hunt.

"Because," declared Marsh, throwing back his coat and exposing his
badge, "I belong to the Secret Service Division of the United States
Treasury Department."

Hunt remained silent and Marsh continued. "Upon the death of his
wife in St. Louis, a few months ago, this man Atwood brought his
daughter to Chicago and placed her in an apartment on Sheridan Road.
Posing as a traveling man, Atwood was busy in other places, and made
only occasional visits to his daughter. To maintain a place of
safety and refuge in time of trouble, this man Atwood kept his
daughter in ignorance of his real occupation. I may say, at this
point, that Atwood had made his living by criminal means for many
years, and the venture in counterfeiting was simply the latest of
his many ways of gaining a livelihood."

"In the course of time it became necessary for Atwood to get a
certain man out of the way. The plans were carefully laid and the
stage set. His daughter believed him to be traveling on the road,
but after he was sure that she had retired for the night, he quietly
entered his apartment, went to her bedroom, and by means of a
hypodermic needle, charged with morphine, rendered her unconscious
while she slept, so that there would be no chance of her awakening
and spoiling his plans. Then Atwood, and a well known police
character known as 'Baldy' Newman, entered an empty apartment across
the hall by means of a duplicate key. At twelve o'clock, this man
'Baldy' telephoned the victim at his hotel. Newman represented
himself as the man's former chauffeur, and appealed for immediate
assistance to get out of some t