le asked.

"I did not."

"See anybody else pick it up?"

"No, sir," said the hotel detective; and he went out of the room.

The sergeant next ushered in George Lerton. Prale sat up straight in his
chair again. Here was where his proper alibi began, with the exception
of Jim Farland. George Lerton's face was pale as he sat down at the end
of the desk.

"Know this man?" the captain asked.

"He is my cousin, Sidney Prale."

"How long has he been away from New York?"

"About ten years," Lerton said. "He returned day before yesterday, I
believe. I saw his name in the passenger list."

"Mr. Prale says that he met you last night on Fifth Avenue, and that you
told him he had some powerful enemies seeking to cause him trouble, and
advised him to leave New York and remain away."

"Why--why this is not so!" Lerton cried. "I haven't seen him until this
moment. I would have looked him up, but did not know at what hotel he
was stopping, and thought that he'd try to find me."

Prale was out of his chair again, his face flaming. "You mean to sit
there and tell me that you didn't talk to me on Fifth Avenue last
night?" he cried.

"Why, of course I never talked to you, Sid. I never saw you. What are
you trying to do, Sid? Why have you done this thing? We never were close
to each other, and yet we are cousins, and I hate to see you in
trouble."

"Stop your hypocritical sniveling!" Prale cried. "You are lying and you
know it! You saw me last night----"

"But I didn't!"

"You did--and tried to get me to run away, and wouldn't tell me your
reason for it."

George Lerton licked at his lips and looked appealingly at the captain
of detectives.

"I--I am a man of standing," he whimpered. "I am a broker--here is my
card. This man is my cousin, but I cannot lie to shield him. I never saw
him last night, and did not speak to him."

Lerton got up and started for the door, and Sidney Prale did not make a
move to stop him.

"It appears that your story is full of flaws," the captain said. "A
little of it is true, however; you did meet Jim Farland and talk to him
in Madison Square, and remained for the length of time you said. Jim has
told me that much. But he does not know where you went and what you did
after leaving him. What we are interested in is what you did in the
neighborhood of eleven o'clock last night. That is when Rufus Shepley
was killed. And now we'll have in that new valet of yours."

There was a snarl on Murk