awled the man's voice, with a familiar little
cackling laugh in it, "sa-a-ay, girl, the policeman on th' beat's got me
spotted for a suspicious character. I been hoofin' it up an' down this
block like a distracted mamma waitin' for her daughter t' come home from
a boat ride."

"Blackie! It's only you!"

"Thanks, flatterer," simpered Blackie, coming to the edge of the walk as
I stepped from the automobile. "Was you expectin' the landlady?"

"I don't know just whom I expected. I--I'm nervous, I think, and you
startled me. Dr. Von Gerhard was taken back for a moment, weren't you,
Doctor?"

Von Gerhard laughed ruefully. "Frankly, yes. It is not early. And
visitors at this hour--"

"What in the world is it, Blackie?" I put in. "Don't tell me that
Norberg has been seized with one of his fiendish inspirations at this
time of night."

Blackie struck a match and held it for an instant so that the flare
of it illuminated his face as he lighted his cigarette. There was no
laughter in the deep-set black eyes.

"What is it Blackie?" I asked again. The horror of what Von Gerhard had
told me made the prospect of any lesser trial a welcome relief.

"I got t' talk to you for a minute. P'raps Von Gerhard 'd better hear
it, too. I telephoned you an hour ago. Tried to get you out to the bay.
Waited here ever since. Got a parlor, or somethin', where a guy can
talk?"

I led the way indoors. The first floor seemed deserted. The bare,
unfriendly boarding-house parlor was unoccupied, and one dim gas jet did
duty as illumination.

"Bring in the set pieces," muttered Blackie, as he turned two more gas
jets flaring high. "This parlor just yells for a funeral."

Von Gerhard was frowning. "Mrs. Orme is not well," he began. "She has
had a shock--some startling news concerning--"

"Her husband?" inquired Blackie, coolly. I started up with a cry. "How
could you know?"

A look of relief came into Blackie's face. "That helps a little. Now
listen, kid. An' w'en I get through, remember I'm there with the little
helpin' mitt. Have a cigarette, Doc?"

"No," said Von Gerhard, shortly.

Blackie's strange black eyes were fastened on my face, and I saw an
expression of pity in their depths as he began to talk.

"I was up at the Press Club to-night. Dropped in for a minute or two,
like I always do on the rounds. The place sounded kind of still when I
come up the steps, and I wondered where all the boys was. Looked into
the billiard room--not