he can keep me
busy proving my own innocence, he figures that I'll have less time to
get after him. It's a good move. The more chance he has to work on
those gypsies, the less likely they are to say anything that will make
trouble for him. He can show them his power and scare them, even if he
can't buy them.

"And I think the chances are that he won't find it very hard to buy
them. They pinched me as soon as I got off the train this morning.
I've sent out a lot of telegrams, asking fellows to come up here and
bail me out, but of course I can't really expect to get an answer
today--an answer in person, at least."

"Mr. Niles seems friendly. He said that he doesn't believe you're
guilty, Charlie."

"That's kind of him, I'm sure. Niles is an ass--a pompous,
self-satisfied ass! Holmes is using him just as he likes, and Niles
hasn't got sense enough to see it. He's honest enough, I think, but he
hasn't got the brains of a well-developed jellyfish."

Eleanor laughed at the comparison.

"Well, if he's honest, you don't have anything to fear, I suppose," she
said. "I'm glad of that, Charlie. I was afraid at first that he might
be just a tool of Mr. Holmes, and that he would do what Mr. Holmes told
him."

"I'd feel easier in my mind if he were a regular out-and-out crook,
Nell. That sort always has a weakness. Your crook is afraid of his
own skin, and when he knows he's doing things for pay, he'll always
stop just short of a certain danger point. He won't risk more than so
much for anyone. But with this chap it's different. He's probably let
Holmes, or Holmes's gang, fill him up with a lot of false ideas, and
they're clever enough to get him to wanting to do just what they want
him to do."

"And you mean that he'll think he's doing the right thing?"

"Yes, and not only that, but he'll persuade himself that he figured the
whole thing out, thought it out for himself, when really he'll just be
carrying out their own suggestions. We've got to find some way to
spike his guns, or else Holmes will work things so that his gypsy will
get off, and there'll be no sort of chance to pin the guilt down to
him, where it belongs."

"Then the first thing to do is to get you out, isn't it?"

"Yes, but I've done all that can be done on that. There's really
nothing to be done now but just wait--and I'd rather do pretty nearly
anything I can think of but that."

"I don't know, Charlie. Why can't I give bail for you?