re awaited me, and when I recognised
it as that of one of my chief's most trusted 'stand-bys,' who seldom
left New York, I began to wonder.

He had been directed to my quarters, he said, and finding the
surroundings to his liking, had awaited me there. He was not slow in
making known his business, and he began with the query:

'Have you got Delbras?'

I had, of course, sent regular reports to my chief, and a week
previous had informed him that we were on the trail of the Frenchman,
and I answered:

'Not yet; but I mean to have a warrant out for him within an hour.'

'Don't waste your time,' advised Jeffrys. 'I have a warrant and all
the necessary extras in my pocket. I have been in Chicago long enough
for that.' And he made haste to tell me how our chief had lately
received from France papers authorizing the arrest of Delbras,
wherever found, upon the charge of murder. The French police had
worked out, at last, a solution to the mysterious murder in the Rue de
Grammont.

The victim, one Laure Borin, was found in her apartment stabbed in
half a dozen places, and a tall, dark man, name unknown, was searched
for in vain for many weeks.

At last the crime was traced to Delbras, through the revelations of a
second woman, who, finding that the man she had believed in hiding had
really crossed the ocean and left her behind, had at once avenged
herself by putting into the hands of the police the means by which
they had traced the crime home to Delbras.

'You must not arrest the fellow,' Jeffrys had said. 'Leave that to me.
I have everything--extradition and all--and in Paris they'll not fail
to execute him.'

This last argument had its weight. I could not speak with equal
certainty of the formality which we call 'trial by jury,' but I began
to feel that the fate of the 'clique,' in one way or another, was
being rapidly taken out of our hands.

One thing was assured; Jeffrys must wait and move with us; any effort
of his to secure Delbras alone would endanger our chances for securing
the rest.

Before going further with Jeffrys I felt that I must consult Dave. He
had left me at noon to go back to Stony Island Avenue, where half a
dozen places, each more or less 'shady,' were being constantly
watched. Leaving Jeffrys to look at the wonders nearest at hand for an
hour, and this he was quite ready to do, I set out in search of my
friend and fellow-worker, wondering a little what he would think and
say of this new tur