view of the scar terrible. He shook his big head and big shoulders,
roused himself, made ready to take a drink, noticed me, and said, "Won't
you join me?" His look was most engaging.

I accepted and we were soon sociable, each taking an instinctive liking
to the other. We talked of the business situation, of the news in the
papers, and then of political affairs. Each of us saw that there he was
at the other's keenest interest in life. He knew the game,--practical
politics as distinguished from the politics talked by and to the public.
But he evaded, without seeming to do so, all the ingenious traps I laid
for drawing from him some admission that would give me a clue to where
he "fitted in." I learned no more about him than I thought he learned
about me.

"I hope we shall meet again," said I cordially, as we parted at the
cab-stand.

"Thank you," he answered, and afterward I remembered the faint smile in
his eyes.

I, of course, knew that Roebuck was greatly interested in my project for
putting political business on a business basis; but not until he had
explained why he sent for me did I see how it had fascinated and
absorbed his mind. "You showed me," he began, "that you must have under
you a practical man to handle the money and do the arranging with the
heelers and all that sort of thing."

"Yes," said I; "it's a vital part of the plan. We must find a man who is
perfectly trustworthy and discreet. Necessarily he'll know or suspect
something--not much, but still something--of the inside workings of the
combine."

"Well, I've found him," went on Roebuck, in a triumphant tone. "He's a
godless person, with no character to lose, and no conception of what
character means. But he's straight as a string. Providence seems to have
provided such men for just such situations as these, where the devil
must be fought with fire. I've been testing him for nearly fifteen
years. But you can judge for yourself."

I was the reverse of pleased. It was not in my calculations to have a
creature of Roebuck's foisted upon me, perhaps--indeed, probably--a spy.
I purposed to choose my own man; and I decided while he was talking,
that I would accept the Roebuck selection only to drop him on some
plausible pretext before we began operations. I was to meet the man at
dinner,--Roebuck had engaged a suite at the Auditorium. "It wouldn't do
to have him at my house or club," said he; "neither do we want to be
seen with him."

Coincidence i