aggerty smiled. "My skin is very thick. Do you know this fellow?"

She shook her head. He stood undecided for a space.

"Let me see your card."

"I decline to produce it,"--haughtily.

Haggerty seemed staggered for a moment. "I am sorry to annoy you, but
you must be identified at once."

"And why?"--proudly. "Was it forbidden to go into the club cellars for
such harmless things as apples?"

Apples! I looked at her admiringly.

"Apples?" repeated Haggerty. "Couldn't you have sent a servant for
them?"

She did not reply.

"You were with this clever gentleman in the cellars. You may or may
not be acquainted with him. I do not wish to do anything hasty in
regard to yourself, but your position is rather equivocal. Produce
your card and be identified--if you really can."

"I refuse!"

"Then I shall ask you to accompany us to the room up stairs till the
police-patrol arrives."

"I will go,"--quietly.

"Nonsense!" I objected. "On my word of honor, I do not know this lady.
Our presence in the cellar was perfectly harmless. There is no valid
reason for detaining her. It is an outrage!"

"I am not going to stand here arguing with you," said Haggerty. "Let
the lady produce her card; let her disclose her identity. That is
simple enough."

"I have already given you my determination on that subject," replied
the girl. "I can very well explain my presence here, but I absolutely
decline to explain it to the police."

I didn't understand her at all. She had said that she possessed an
alibi. Why didn't she produce it?

So the two of us left the gorgeous ball-room. Every one moved aside
for us, and quickly, too, as if we had had the plague. I looked in
vain for Hamilton. He was a friend in need. We were taken into the
steward's office and the door was shut and locked. The band in the
ball-room went galloping through a two-step, and the gaiety was in full
swing again. The thief had been rounded up! How the deuce was it
going to end?

"I can not tell you how sorry I am to have mixed you up in this," I
said to the girl.

"You are in no manner to blame. Think of what _might_ have happened
had you blown up the post-office!"

She certainly was the least embarrassed of the two of us. I addressed
my next remarks to the great Haggerty.

"Did you find a suitable pistol in Friard's?"

"A man in my business," said Haggerty mildly, "is often found in such
places. There are various things to be