ng must stand in the way of its success, not
even the satisfaction of inspiring terror in minds shut to every other
species of argument. I have uttered my last speech; you can rely on me
for that."

"We are glad to hear it, Mr. Dunn. Physical overthrow carries more than
the immediate sufferer with it."

If this were meant as an irritant, it did not act successfully. The
social agitator, the political demagogue, the orator whose honeyed tones
had rung with biting invective in the ears of the United Brotherhood of
the Awl, the Plane and the Trowel, simply bowed and calmly waited for
the next attack.

Perhaps it was of a nature to surprise even him.

"We have no wish," continued the Inspector, "to probe too closely into
concerns seemingly quite removed from the main issue. You say that you
are ready, nay more, are even eager to answer all questions. You will
probably be anxious then to explain away a discrepancy between your word
and your conduct, which has come to our attention. You were known to
have expressed the intention of spending the afternoon of Mrs. Spotts'
death in New York and were supposed to have done so, yet you were
certainly seen in the crowd which invaded that rear building at the
first alarm. Are you conscious of possessing a double, or did you fail
to cross the river as you expected to?"

"I am glad this has come up." The tone was one of self-congratulation
which would have shaken Sweetwater sorely had he been admitted to this
unofficial examination. "I have never confided to any one the story of
my doings on that unhappy afternoon, because I knew of no one who would
take any interest in them. But this is what occurred. I did mean to
go to New York and I even started on my walk to the Bridge at the hour
mentioned. But I got into a small crowd on the corner of Fulton Street,
in which a poor devil who had robbed a vendor's cart of a few oranges,
was being hustled about. There was no policeman within sight, and so I
busied myself there for a minute paying for the oranges and dragging
the poor wretch away into an alley, where I could have the pleasure of
seeing him eat them. When I came out of the alley the small crowd had
vanished, but a big one was collecting up the street very near my home.
I always think of my books when I see anything suggesting fire, and
naturally I returned, and equally naturally, when I heard what had
happened, followed the crowd into the court and so up to the poor
woman's do