or help?" he inquired very
gently.

"Oh, no" The old lady looked up at him through her tears. "No, he would
not have done that. I'm afraid that he'll be angry if he knows that I
have come. He seemed so hopeless, so dazed. I just couldn't stand it.
It seemed to me that the police in G---- were taking things for granted,
and just sitting there waiting for an innocent man to confess, instead
of looking for the real murderer, who may be gone, the Lord knows where,
by now!" Miss Graumann's faded cheeks flushed a delicate pink, and she
straightened up in her chair again, while her eyes snapped defiance
through the tears that hung on their lashes.

A faint gleam twinkled up in Muller's eyes, and he did not look at his
chief. Doctor von Riedau's own face glowed in a slowly mounting flush,
and his eyes drooped in a moment of conscious embarrassment at some
recollection, the sting of which was evidently made worse by Muller's
presence. But Commissioner von Riedau had brains enough to acknowledge
his mistakes and to learn from them. He looked across the desk at Miss
Graumann. "You are right, Madam, the police have made that mistake more
than once. And a man with a clear record deserves the benefit of the
doubt. We will take up this case. Detective Muller will be put in charge
of it. And that means, Madam, that we are giving you the very best
assistance the Imperial Police Force affords."

Miss Babette Graumann did not attempt to speak. In a wave of emotion she
stretched out both little hands to the detective and clasped his warmly.
"Oh, thank you," she said at last. "I thank you. He's just like my own
boy to me; he's all the child I ever had, you know."

"But there are difficulties in the way," continued the commissioner in
a business-like tone. "The local authorities in G---- have not asked for
our assistance, and we are taking up the case over their heads, as it
were. I shall have to leave that to Muller's diplomacy. He will come to
G---- and have an interview with your nephew. Then he will have to use
his own judgment as to the next steps, and as to how far he may go in
opposition to what has been done by the police there."

"And then I may go back home?" asked Miss Graumann. "Go home with the
assurance that you will help my poor boy?"

"Yes, you may depend on us, Madam. Is there anything we can do for you
here? Are you alone in the city?"

"No, thank you. There is a friend here who will take care of me. She
will put me