. "Will you step
inside into the room?"

"Thank you, yes," said the Bald Impostor, as he entered.

Philo Gubb drew a chair to his desk, and the Bald Impostor took it. He
leaned forward, ready to begin with the words, "Mr. Gubb, my name is
Jared Burns. Mr. William J. Burns is my cousin--" when there came
another rap at the door. Mr. Gubb's visitor moved uneasily in his
chair, and Mr. Gubb went to the door, dropping an open letter
carelessly on the desk-slide before the Bald Impostor. The new visitor
was an Italian selling oranges, and as Mr. Gubb had fairly to push the
Italian out of the door, the Bald Impostor had time to read the letter
and, quite a little ahead of time, began wiping perspiration from his
forehead.

The letter was from the Headquarters of the Rising Sun Detective
Agency, and was brutally frank in denouncing the Bald Impostor as an
impostor, and painfully plain in describing him as bald. It described
in the simplest terms his mode of getting money and it warned Mr. Gubb
to be on the outlook for him "as he is supposed to be working in your
district at present." The Bald Impostor gasped. "A number of victims
have organized," continued the letter, "what they call the Easy Marks'
Association of America and have posted a reward of fifty dollars for
the arrest of the fraud."

The Bald Impostor glanced toward Philo Gubb and hastily turned the
letter upside down. When Mr. Gubb returned, the Bald Impostor was
rubbing the palms of his hands together and smiling.

"My name, Mr. Gubb," he said, "is Allwood Burns. I am a detective. I
have heard of your wonderful work in the so-called Muffins-Mustard
case."

"Waffles-Mustard," said Mr. Gubb.

"I should say Waffles," said the Bald Impostor hastily. "I consider it
one of the most remarkable cases of detective acumen on record. We in
the Rising Sun Detective Agency were delighted. It was a proof that
the methods of our Correspondence School of Detecting were not short
of the best."

Philo Gubb stared at his visitor with unconcealed admiration.

"Are you out from the Rising Sun Deteckative Agency yourself?" he
asked.

The Bald Impostor smiled.

"I wrote you a letter yesterday," he said. "If you have not received
it yet you will soon, but I can give you the contents here and now. A
certain impostor is going about the country--"

Philo Gubb picked up the letter and glanced at the signature. It was
indeed signed "Allwood Burns." Mr. Gubb extended his hand a