ger of any sort? I cannot
understand this strangeness.'

'Truly, Miss Ross,' I answered, 'I know no more than you have heard;
but I could do no less than warn the young lady, knowing what I did.'

She bent toward me and scrutinized my face closely, keenly.

'Thy face is a good face,' she said then, 'and I like thy voice; but,
young man, I am only a woman, and I have no right to do rashly. My
niece trusts thee, but she is but a girl, with all her self-reliance.
Forgive an old woman's caution, and--tell me what is thy reason for
the interest thee takes in my niece? Cannot thee give me some
credential, some voucher for thy good faith, before I say to thee what
I wish to say?'

Again I found myself forced to a sudden decision. In my experience as
a detective I had found myself in many strange situations, but never
before had I felt that I must speak the truth, or not at all, in a
position like this. I answered, with scarce a moment's hesitation:

'You are right and wise, madam, and I am sure that I can confide to
you the truth concerning my business at the Fair--only asking, because
others are concerned with myself, that you regard my information as
confidential.'

'Surely,' she said quietly. 'Thee may trust a Friend. We are not given
to overmuch speaking. Of course thee has my promise.'

'Then I may tell you that my business here is to watch for and guard
against just such people as this person, this brunette, seems to be. I
am a member of the Secret Service Bureau.'

We were alone in the little arbour, and I showed her first my badge,
sewn inside my coat, and then my photographic pass.

'I thank thee; and may I ask now does my niece know this?'

'I should have found extreme difficulty in gaining her ear or her
confidence otherwise,' I answered.

'Ah! I felt sure--I know the child so well--that somehow she had found
a reason for her faith in you. There is no prouder or more womanly
girl living than my niece, June Jenrys; and now tell me frankly, what
does thee fear or anticipate for her?'

'If I knew your niece, Miss Ross, her friends, her foes, her history,
I might venture an opinion. As it is, cannot you help me?'

She pondered a little, then:

'Tell me again,' she said, 'all about the bag and this woman.'

Now, I wanted to learn one or two things from this interview, and I
realized that our time was short, so I rehearsed the story again, and
quite fully, but as briefly as possible. When I had finished,