y yourselves awhile," asserted
Josie. "You had better interest yourself in the institution and in
children in general and not particularize too much. Poor Danny has had
a hard enough time to deserve a little honeymooning period before he
adopts a lot of orphans."

Although she was so independent, Josie had a strong feeling of
sentiment and was essentially feminine in spite of her rather boyish
attire. She was a firm believer in what she called "old-fashioned love."
Danny Dexter had no better friend than the girl detective, and nobody
had understood better or sympathized more in the trials Danny had
endured the first few months of his married life than did Josie
O'Gorman.

Peter was delighted at again seeing the "story-telling lady." "I was
wondering about the robins all night," he said. "That was one reason I
stopped crying when Cousin Dink told us we must come here. You see,
Cousin Dink used to tell me if we didn't behave she would put us in a
'sylum and that folks in 'sylums didn't give you nothin' to eat but
calf neck an' sheep's tails an' sour bread an' scorched oatmeal.
Somehow, when we saw you yesterday an' you tol' me about the robins I
thought Cousin Dink might have been tellin' one of her whoppers."

By degrees Josie got from the little waifs as much of their story as
they could remember. Polly thought they had been with Cousin Dink for
about a year. She had taken them from place to place, sometimes
stopping in small villages, sometimes in great cities, but never for
more than a few weeks anywhere.

Cousin Dink semed to be a relation of Chester Hunt, and Chester Hunt,
as near as Josie could make out, was either a half-brother or
stepbrother to Stephen Waller, the father of the children. Stephen
Waller evidently was among those missing in one of the battles in the
Great War. The mother was perhaps crazed by grief and uncertainty. Why
the children should have been put in charge of such a person as Cousin
Dink remained a mystery that Josie O'Gorman was determined to solve.
Why she should have left them for the Children's Home Society to take
care of and where she had flitted in the meantime were other questions
Josie was determined to have answered. It was a case that appealed to
her detective instincts.

As was her habit, she took her story to Captain Charlie Lonsdale, chief
of police, and asked his advice. He listened carefully to all her
points.

"Sounds shady, very shady. Evidently this Dink is a bad '