id with decision. 'He has
taken every precaution, and has made himself familiar with your record
through the Boston chief of police. He has every reason, so he writes
me, to have faith in you and in your judgment. I think you know that.'

I thanked her for the assurance that my plans would be favourably
received, and then told her of my wish to use her name in trying to
draw out the brunette.

'I see no other way,' I concluded; 'and having once written her over
your initials she may respond. Of course the reply must come to you at
the office in the Government Building.'

'But you will receive it. I can give you my card, can I not?'

'Then you do not object?'

'How can I? Did I not promise you my help? Oh, I am quite enlisted
now; although after such a _faux pas_ as I made last night I cannot
boast of my finesse. I quite excited Monsieur Voisin by my exclamatory
entrance.'

'And how?' I asked quietly, but inwardly eager.

'You remember how he questioned me about the "missing person?" Well,
he called this afternoon. Aunt Ann and I had just returned from the
Liberal Arts Building, where we had spent three long hours, and though
his call was brief he did not forget to ask again about that "missing
person." He was almost inquisitive.'

'And you?' I asked, inwardly anxious.

'He learned nothing more from me, rest assured. His curiosity seems
quite unlike him.'

'Possibly,' I hazarded, 'he has some inkling of my true inwardness,
and thinks I have made you my confidant. Do you think it possible?'

'Possible, perhaps, but not the fact,' she replied, with a little
laugh. 'My dear aunt has, in some way, given him the impression that
you are a friend or protege of hers. I am quite certain that he
believes this, for he had the audacity to ask me to-day how long my
aunt's acquaintance with you had been; and when I assured him that you
and she were "quite old friends," he asked, with rather a queer
intonation, if auntie knew what your occupation was, and when I
murmured something about journalism, he smiled rather knowingly.'

'A clear case,' I said, smiling. 'He guesses, at least, at my
business, and perhaps fancies me deceiving your dear aunt. We will let
him continue in that error, if possible.'

I went home that evening pondering the question, Did Monsieur Voisin
know me for what I was, and, if so, how? Of one thing I was certain.
Since our first meeting he had always affected a most friendly
interest in me; and t