nitor, who told th' chef,
who told Pete, that Minnie had caught Ted stealin' some three hundred
dollars."

Ted took a quick step forward. "Birdie, for Heaven's sake keep out of
this. You can't make things any better. You may believe in me, but----"

"Where's the money?" asked Birdie.

Ted stared at her a moment, his mouth open ludicrously.

"Why--I--don't--know," he articulated, painfully. "I never thought of
that."

Birdie snorted defiantly. "I thought so. D'ye know," sociably, "I was
visitin' with my aunt Mis' Mulcahy last evenin'."

There was a quick rustle of silks from Minnie Wenzel's direction.

"Say, look here----" began Jo Haley, impatiently.

"Shut up, Jo Haley!" snapped Birdie. "As I was sayin', I was visitin'
with my aunt Mis' Mulcahy. She does fancy washin' an' ironin' for the
swells. An' Minnie Wenzel, there bein' none sweller, hires her to do up
her weddin' linens. Such smears av hand embridery an' Irish crochet she
never see th' likes, Mis' Mulcahy says, and she's seen a lot. And as a
special treat to the poor owld soul, why Minnie Wenzel lets her see some
av her weddin' clo'es. There never yet was a woman who cud resist
showin' her weddin' things to every other woman she cud lay hands on.
Well, Mis' Mulcahy, she see that grand trewsow and she said she never saw
th' beat. Dresses! Well, her going away suit alone comes to eighty
dollars, for it's bein' made by Molkowsky, the little Polish tailor. An'
her weddin' dress is satin, do yuh mind! Oh, it was a real treat for my
aunt Mis' Mulcahy."

Birdie walked over to where Minnie Wenzel sat, very white and still, and
pointed a stubby red finger in her face. "'Tis the grand manager ye are,
Miss Wenzel, gettin' satins an' tailor-mades on yer salary. It takes a
woman, Minnie Wenzel, to see through a woman's thricks."

"Well I'll be dinged!" exploded Jo Haley.

"Yuh'd better be!" retorted Birdie Callahan.

Minnie Wenzel stood up, her lip caught between her teeth.

"Am I to understand, Jo Haley, that you dare to accuse me of taking your
filthy money, instead of that miserable ex-con there who has done time?"

"That'll do, Minnie," said Jo Haley, gently. "That's a-plenty."

"Prove it," went on Minnie, and then looked as though she wished she
hadn't.

"A business college edjication is a grand foine thing," observed Birdie.
"Miss Wenzel is a graduate av wan. They teach you everything from
drawin' birds with tail feathers to plai