The cross street was fairly well lighted; there seemed to be plenty of
evening strollers abroad, so that he was not particularly conspicuous
on the long block between Sixth and Fifth Avenues.

The precious pair, arriving at Fifth Avenue, halted, blocked by the
normal rush of automobiles, unchecked now by a traffic policeman.

So Barres halted, too, and drew back alongside a shop window.

And, as he stopped and stepped aside, he saw a man pause on the
sidewalk across the street and move back cautiously into the shadow of
a facade opposite.

There was nothing significant in the occurrence; Barres merely
happened to notice it; then he turned his eyes toward Soane and
Freund, who now were crossing Fifth Avenue. And he went after them,
with no definite idea in his head.

Soane and Freund walked on eastward; a tramcar on Madison Avenue
stopped them once more; and, as Barres also halted behind them and
stepped aside into the shadows, there, just across the street, he saw
the same man again halt, retire, and stand motionless in a recess
between two shop windows.

Barres tried to keep one eye on him and the other on Soane and Freund.
The two latter were crossing Madison Avenue; and as soon as they had
crossed, still headed east, the man on the other side of the street
came out of his shadowy recess and started eastward, too.

Then Barres also started, but now he was watching the man across the
street as well as keeping Soane and Freund in view--watching the
former solitary individual with increasing curiosity.

Was that man keeping an eye on him? Was he following Soane and Freund?
Was he, in fact, following anybody, and had the lively imagination of
Barres begun to make something out of nothing?

At Park Avenue Freund and Soane paused, not apparently because of any
vehicular congestion impeding their progress, but they seemed to be
engaged in vehement conversation, Soane's excitable tones reaching
Barres, where he had halted again beside the tradesmen's gate of a
handsome private house.

And once more, across the street the solitary figure also halted and
stood unstirring under a porte-cochere.

Barres, straining his eyes, strove to make out details of his features
and dress. And presently he concluded that, though the man did turn
and glance in his direction occasionally, his attention was
principally fixed on Soane and Freund.

His movements, too, seemed to corroborate this idea, because as soon
as they starte