assing at the time, was immediately
organized--Tim to proceed at once to the station-house, take the captain
on one side, and so end the matter. Locking up Mike, even threatening
him, was, as the captain knew, an invasion of the rights of "The
Avenue." Nobody within its confines had ever been entangled in the
meshes of the law--simply because nobody had wanted to break it. It was
the howling boy who should have been locked up for getting under Mike's
wheels, or his father who ought to have kept his son off the street.

Mike listened impatiently to the discussion and, watching his chance,
beckoned to Kitty, shut the door upon the two, and poured into her ear a
full account of what he had seen and heard at the station-house.

"Well, what's that got to do with it?" Kitty demanded. "What did she
have to do with the boy?"

"Nothing, don't I tell ye--she's been swipin' a department store, and
they got her dead to rights."

"Who's been swipin'? What are ye talkin' about, Mike? Stop it now--I've
got a lot to do, and--"

"The woman ye put to bed that night. The one ye picked up near St.
Barnabas, and brought in here and dried her off. She skipped in the
mornin' without sayin' 'thank ye'--why, ye must remember her! She was--"

Kitty clapped her two palms to her face, framing her bulging eyes--a
favorite gesture when she was taken completely by surprise.

"That woman!" she cried, staring at Mike. "Where is she now? Tell me--"

"I don't know--but she--"

"Ye don't know, and ye come down here with this yarn? Don't ye try and
fool me, Mike, or I'll break every bone in yer skin. Go on, now! How do
ye know it's the same woman?"

"I'm tellin' ye no lies. Come back with me and see for yerself. The cap
will let ye go down and talk to her. I heard Father Cruse tell ye to
keep an eye out for her if she ever came around here agin. Ye got to
hurry or they'll have her in the Black Maria on the way to the Tombs.
Bunky told me so."

Kitty stood in deep meditation. She remembered that Mike had been in
the kitchen when the woman sat by the stove. She remembered, too, that
Father Cruse had cautioned her to send word to the rectory if the poor
creature came again and, if there were not time to reach him, then to
tell Mr. O'Day. That the priest had not run across the woman at the
station-house was evident, or he would have sent word by Mike. She would
herself find out and then act.

"But ye must have seen Father Cruse. Did he send any w