all who read papers had heard so much. Was this indolent individual that
inveterate man-hunter who, with courage of berserk and strength of
steel, had pulled down his quarry in the midst of desperate criminals,
and then, victim in clutch, cleared his path through? Something of this
may have glimmered in Richard's eye; if so, Inspector Val assumed to
have no hint of it, and busied himself in a more precise adjustment of
his boutonniere, which floral adornment had become disarranged. The
longer Richard contemplated Inspector Val the more he felt his whalebone
sort. The slim form and sleepy eyes began to suggest that activity and
ferocious genius for pursuit which are the first qualities of a ferret.

"If we could be more private," suggested Inspector Val, casting a tired
glance about the big public room at Willard's where the two had met.

"We will go to my house," replied Richard.

"And if you don't mind, we'll ride." This with the rising inflection of
a request. "There are carriages at the door."

"My own," said Richard, "should be across the way. I seldom require it;
but I might, and so it follows me about."

Richard and Inspector Val stepped to the Fourteenth Street door. At
Richard's lifted hand an olive-tinted brougham, coachman and footman
liveried to match, drawn by a pair of restless bay horses, came plunging
to the curb. The footman swung down in three motions, like a soldier
about some point of drill.

"Home!" said Richard.

The footman in three motions regained his perch; the whip cracked and
the brougham went plunging off for Mr. Gwynn's.

Richard came to the common-sense conclusion to lay the complete story of
his perplexities before Inspector Val. A detective was so much like a
doctor that frankness would be worth while. One was called to cure the
health, the other to cure a situation; the more one told either
scientist the faster and better he could work. Acting on this thought,
Richard related all there was to tell of himself, Dorothy, Mr. Harley,
and Storri, being full as to his exclusion from the Harley house and the
manner in which it was brought about. When he had finished, he waited
for Inspector Val.

[Illustration: That Artist of Pursuit]

That artist of pursuit did not speak at once, and asked permission to
smoke a cigarette. Richard offered no objection, although he privily
condemned cigarettes as implying the effeminate. Inspector Val lighted
one, and blew the smoke thoughtfully thro