ut three years. That is why I know you so well."

"Did your work as a secret service man bring you to this place?"

"Excuse me, but that is my business. If you are working on this case,
well and good. But it is not fair to try to steal any of my thunder."

"So far as I am concerned you shall get full credit for what you may do
on this case, Mr. Watkins," said Adam Adams stiffly. "But I should
like to understand several points."

"About the shoes and the shirtwaist, I suppose. I got the shoes from
the house to make certain that some footprints on the bank of the brook
had been made by Miss Langmore."

"What about the shirtwaist?"

"It was there when I came, and I left it there, as it did not seem to
have much of a connection with the affair."

"Do you think you had a right to tamper with the safe in the library?"

"Considering certain circumstances, which I do not intend just now to
disclose to you, I think I had a right."

"Did you take anything from the safe?"

"Not a thing. In fact, I couldn't get the safe open. You must know
this, if you saw me a while ago."

"You opened the door the first time."

"I do not deny it. The policeman interrupted me and I shut the box up.
When I came back the combination had gotten away from me."

There was a pause.

"Where are you stopping, Mr. Watkins, in case I wish to communicate
with you again?"

"At Hager's Hotel, in Sidham. But I am on the jump nearly all the
time," and the secret service man laughed again. "Anything else?"

"No."

"Then I'll be going. I've got to send a long secret message before I
go to bed and it takes time to follow the code, you know that.
Good-night," and in a moment more John Watkins was on his horse and
riding away at a good rate of speed.

Adam Adams watched his departure with a variety of thoughts chasing
each other through his mind. The man must be what he claimed, he had
shown his badge on the inside of his coat, and been perfectly willing
to prove his words.

"If he is honest, he must be on the trail of those counterfeits, and
perhaps it was my duty to tell him of my discovery," mused the
detective. "It is curious how these two cases have wound around each
other, or is it all one case?"

Concluding that there was nothing more to be done that night, Adam
Adams took himself to the Beechwood Hotel, secured a room, and was soon
in the land of dreams. He arose early, obtained his breakfast, and
without waiting to meet