w his district well, looked very
thoughtfully down at the table before which he sat, and failed to raise
his head until the young man had vanished from the room and his place had
been taken by another of very different appearance and deportment. Then
he roused himself and introduced the newcomer to the prosecuting attorney
as Caleb Sweetwater, of the New York police department.

Caleb Sweetwater was no beauty. He was plain-featured to the point of
ugliness; so plain-featured that not even his quick, whimsical smile
could make his face agreeable to one who did not know his many valuable
qualities. His receding chin and far too projecting nose were not likely
to create a favourable impression on one ignorant of his cheerful,
modest, winsome disposition; and the district attorney, after eyeing him
for a moment with ill-concealed disfavour, abruptly suggested:

"You have brought some credentials with you, I hope."

"Here is a letter from one of the department. Mr. Gryce wrote it," he
added, with just a touch of pride.

"The letter is all right," hastily remarked Dr. Perry on looking it
over. "Mr. Sweetwater is commended to us as a man of sagacity and
becoming reserve."

"Very good. To business, then. The sooner we get to work on this new
theory, the better. Mr. Sweetwater, we have some doubts if the man we
have in hand is the man we really want. But first, how much do you know
about this case?"

"All that's in the papers."

"Nothing more?"

"Very little. I've not been in town above an hour."

"Are you known here?"

"I don't think so; it's my first visit this way."

"Then you are as ignorant of the people as they are of you. Well, that
has its disadvantages."

"And its advantages, if you will permit me to say so, sir. I have no
prejudices, no preconceived notions to struggle against. I can take
persons as I find them; and if there is any deep family secret to
unearth, it's mighty fortunate for a man to have nothing stand in the way
of his own instincts. No likings, I mean--no leanings this way or that,
for humane or other purely unprofessional reasons."

The eye of District Attorney Fox stole towards that of his brother
official, but did not meet it. The coroner had turned his attention to
the table again, and, while betraying no embarrassment, was not quite his
usual self. The district attorney's hand stole to his chin, which he
softly rubbed with his lean forefinger as he again addressed Sweetwater.

"Thi