ought had reasserted
itself, although the mystery remained as black and sinister as ever.

Wiley, still hors de combat from his thrashing at Thode's hands, could
scarcely have been a factor himself in this new development and if it
proved to be the result of any of his agents' activities, surely Dan
would be able to find some trace.

She passed a sleepless night, however, and arose to find a foot of snow
glistening on the ground and the air keen and brittle with cold. No
word came from Dan, and in the afternoon she threw discretion to the
winds and went boldly to the Brooklyn house.

Nothing had developed save that Jose had worried himself into a fever,
and the Senora Rodriguez's lamentations were tinged with a querulous
resentment.

The young Senorita was paying handsomely for the hospitality to her
friends, and she herself would gladly do anything to aid her
country-people, even if they were but Mexican Spanish and not of the
blood. Nevertheless, she was not to blame for the old Senora's
departure, she had not agreed to stand guard over her and surely the
Evil Eye had descended upon her house! She would nurse the little Jose
as though he were her own, and the old Senora's room should be kept in
readiness for her return, but she, Conchita Rodriguez, would worry her
own head no longer!

Willa placated the woman's displeasure with promises of more generous
pay, and arranged for extra care and comforts for Jose, whom the Senora
evidently regarded with a tenderness born of superstition; to aid a
jorobado brought luck to one's hearth-stone, even as the touch of his
humped shoulders gave promise of good fortune.

Secure at least in the thought of his well-being, Willa was content to
leave Jose in the hands of his irascible but kind-hearted landlady,
stipulating that daily messages should be telephoned to her of his
condition.

"And if anyone comes to inquire for him, remember that he is not here,
please," she added. "He and the Senora have both gone; that is, unless
a young American named Morrissey should appear. He is a friend of
mine, and trying to help me find the Senora."

"'Morrissey?' I shall not forget." Senora Rodriguez repeated the name
thoughtfully. "No one has been here to-day but a plumber, who arrived
without my order. He said there was a leak in the cellar next door
which came from my house and he did strange things to my pipes so that
now I can draw no water in my kitchen. Now my neighbor t