hey remained there two hours, viewed from afar by
Sweetwater, but not approached till he saw the old woman disappear
from one of the gates with a basket on her arm. Then he developed thirst
and went rearward to the pump. While there, he took a look at the sea.
A brisk wind was springing up. It gave him an idea.

Making sure that his fellow workmen were all busy, he loosened one end of
the line holding the fluttering garments and then went back to his work.
As the wind increased, the strain on the line became too great, and soon
he had the satisfaction of seeing the whole thing fall in one wild flap
to the ground. With an exclamation calculated to draw the attention of
the men about him to what had happened, he rushed to the rescue, lifted
the line and rearranged the clothes. Then refastening--this time
securely--the end of the line which had slipped loose, he returned to his
post, with just one quick and disappointed look thrown back at the now
safe if wildly fluttering garments.

He had improved his opportunity to examine the inside of every coat and
had found nothing to reward his scrutiny. But it was not this which had
given him his chief annoyance. It was the fact that the one coat from
which he had expected the anticipated clue--the coat which Mr. Roberts
had certainly worn on that tragic day at the museum--was not there. A
summer overcoat had filled out the number, and his investigation was
incomplete.

Why was that one coat lacking? He was sure he had seen it the night
before lying on the bed with the others. Was it still there, or had it
been stowed away in drawer or closet, irrespective of its danger from
moths, for a reason he would give his eyeteeth to know but dared not
inquire into till he had clinched his friendship with this old woman so
thoroughly that he could ask her anything--which certainly was not the
case as yet.

The absence of the one coat he wanted most to see afflicted him sorely.
He told Mrs. Weston, on her return, how the line had fallen and how he
had replaced it, but for all his wits, he could not get any further. With
the close of the day's work and the reappearance of Mr. Roberts, he
slipped away to the village, to avoid an encounter of the results of
which he felt very doubtful. His dinner would not be ready till after Mr.
Roberts had been served, and the three hours which must necessarily
elapse before that happy moment looked very long and very unproductive to
him, especially as he