lance at the frump, but she
was enjoying herself berating a fat girl she addressed as "Flora." He
looked at me eloquently and whispered: "About his--h'm--stealing some
black silk pajamas."

My monocle dropped, and I almost did myself.

"By Jove!" I gasped feebly.

"Yes, sir." Wilkes looked up at the paneled ceiling and stroked his
chin. "He mentioned that they found them--or _thought_ they found them
in the bag he had with him."

"But he's got them _on_, and they are his own," I managed to get out.

Wilkes' face lightened understandingly. "Oh-h, I _see_, sir," he said,
nodding with his jolly chin hanging; "so _that's_ how you got him
off--I was a-wondering!" He looked at me, his fishy old eyes twinkling
admiration. "Very neat, if I may say, sir--making, as it were, a sort of
alibi--_very_ neat, indeed! Of course, when they puts 'em on him, they
see for themselves they are his'n, and not any lady's what had been
stolen--Oh, _I_ see!"

Dash me, if _I_ did! The only thing I saw was that it must have been
Jenkins that had telephoned and the message had been twisted. What he
_had said_, of course, was that Billings had _almost_ been arrested. But
the police finding the pajamas in his bag--I did not like that. Could it
be that, after all, Billings _had_ found his sister's pajamas in the
guest-room and had quietly confiscated them? It looked devilishly,
ominously like it! Or perhaps he, himself, had recovered them from Foxy
Grandpa, and with more delicacy than I thought him capable of, had kept
the whole matter to himself. One thing only was certain: the sleuth
hounds of the law, stimulated by the extravagant reward I had offered
over the telephone, _had_ run down and recovered _her pajamas_. It was a
relief that they were out of his hands, anyhow--_I_ could get them
again, but _he_ couldn't. By Jove!

Alone in my room, I stood before the mirror, hands in pockets and
rocking on my toes--kind of smiling, you know--and thinking what a
daredevil, reckless thing it had been--clever, too, dash it--in getting
them away from old Jack, and right under his nose. By Jove, I felt a bit
proud about it--sort of exultation, don't you know--and I had just got
off a wink at myself, when Wilkes appeared again.

"Pardon, sir, for disturbing you, but Mr. Billings is acting so queer,
we are afraid to cross him; and he just insisted I take his message to
you at once."

"Message?" I repeated, sobering.

"Yes, sir--something about some