ixed up in it from the first. Besides,
remember we have him to thank for every clew we have succeeded in
getting. It was he who witnessed the robbery; he who trapped and
identified Stuart; he who now furnishes us with the whereabouts of the
loot. You wouldn't deprive him of seeing the end of the drama, would
you?"

"No-o," answered Mr. Burton slowly. "Still, it is no place for him. He's
been mixed up with criminals and police stations ever since he came into
this store. I didn't bring him here for any such purpose. Why, he has
secured more knowledge of thieves and prisons during the last few weeks
than he would have gathered together in a lifetime."

"He may be the wiser for it, too. Have you thought of that? Crime isn't
very attractive when one sees this side of it."

"That is true," agreed Burton, Senior.

"Let Christopher alone, Mr. Burton. What he has seen won't hurt him. It
has been a grim, sad adventure in which it would be hard to find one
alluring feature."

"I guess that is true. Certainly evil has not triumphed."

"It never does--in the long run," declared Corrigan emphatically. "I've
seen the thing over and over again, and have followed the history of
most of the men we have tracked down. Sooner or later they are brought
to justice. In the meantime they lead the lives of hunted foxes, never
knowing a safe or peaceful moment. Some may call that happiness, but I
don't. When you make of yourself an outlaw and cut yourself off from the
big universe of decent people, you sentence yourself to a pretty
wretched, lonely life. Even the worst of criminals often wish themselves
back into that world they have left behind them, and which they know for
a certainty they never can enter again."

"Stuart seemed to in his letter."

"That's exactly what I mean. Even Stuart, who has been at this sort of
thing since he was a young lad, isn't contented with the lot he has
chosen. Could he start over, he would follow the other path. He as good
as says so himself. They are all like that when you get them at their
best moments. That is why I am so sure this note to Christopher tells
the truth. It is the voice of Stuart sighing for what might have been."

"Have you any idea where this street he mentions is?" interrogated Mr.
Burton.

"Oh, yes. It is up in Harlem. A very decent locality. We shall have no
trouble. Doubtless the people of whom he hired his room thought him a
gentleman. He could ape one when he tried. Moreover