to analyze the situation
intelligently.

Had he done right in withholding from his uncle the fact of his unusual
encounter with this girl? He imagined the laugh with which the
Honorable Milton would be likely to greet relation of the incident. If
it were true that there was no use in sending a boy on a man's errand,
what about a woman on a spying expedition in a thick fog at two o'clock
in the morning? Perhaps her story of the party at a friend's house was
true, after all. Perhaps she and this "Joe" were a pair of sneak
thieves----!

But he _knew_ she wasn't, just as he knew that she was a girl of
education and refinement. A tantalizing thing to meet a disembodied
voice like that, a low laugh, a mystery! The lady might have a face
like a dried prune! (Only he knew that she hadn't!) Voices were not
to be relied upon. Take that "hello-girl," for instance; she had had
the softest lilting voice over the wire, then when he got a look at her
she hadn't been a day under forty-five and her face----! Certainly it
hadn't been the fairest that e'er the sun shone on! (Only in this case
he knew it must be different!) He was a hopeless fool if ever there
was one! The best thing he could do was to forget the whole affair and
with this sensible decision he reached into his pocket for the
souvenirs, and spent some time in re-examining the little hand-painted
shirt-waist pin with which she had fastened his pay to the canoe
cushion!

Phil breakfasted alone. Although the sun had climbed high enough to
dispel the fog his uncle still slept the heavy sleep of utter
exhaustion. Without disturbing him, therefore, Kendrick had Stinson
run the launch over to the city half an hour later. As a concession to
the possibility of there being a serious side to the espionage of the
girl and her accomplice, he had decided to advise his uncle's lawyer of
the adventure; Ferguson then could assume responsibility for the
consequences, using his own judgment as to its significance. Also Phil
intended to have a chat with President Wade, of the Canadian Lake
Shores Railway, if he happened to be in the city; Ben Wade was an old
boyhood friend of the Warings and Phil knew that he could talk to him
freely without fear of his confidences being abused.

At the docks almost the first person Kendrick encountered was Chic
White. Chic was the more or less renowned sporting editor of the
_Morning _Recorder__ and he had a most abominable habit of goi