l. At Chicago.--Let me
see!...

"I'm calling it back to my mind. Roger helped me out of the train.
O'Reilly was out already. He stood on the platform, looking for
someone--or so it seemed. We went quite close to him, but not close
enough for even the smartest pickpocket in America to steal the envelope
from Roger."

"Where was the envelope then?" the girl wanted to know.

"In an inside breast pocket of Roger's coat; not an overcoat. It was
September. The weather was hot."

"Wouldn't it be easy for any one looking for the envelope to see that
Mr. Sands had something thick and long in an inside breast pocket, and
suspect what it was?"

"Any one might suspect. No one could be sure. It would have shown more
plainly if Roger had worn his coat buttoned. He didn't, on purpose."

"Still, his coat not being buttoned would make it easier to steal the
envelope, if somebody very clever got a chance to try."

"Perhaps. But O'Reilly could never have done such a thing. It would take
a trained thief."

"Can people send off telegrams from those Limited trains?" Clo took up
her catechism again.

"Yes, of course they can."

"Would there have been time for this O'Reilly chap to wire Chicago,
after he followed you on board the train, and have a man meet him?"

"Yes, plenty of time."

"Well, what if he wired to some detective people, and told them to send
him the 'smartest pickpocket in America'?"

"But ... the police couldn't ... wouldn't ... do such a thing!"

"I don't mean the real police," Clo explained. "Haven't you often read
books about private detectives? I have. They might get reformed thieves
to work for them. Can you remember what O'Reilly did next, after you
both passed him on the platform?"

"No. I didn't look back."

"You don't know, then, whether the person he seemed to expect ever
turned up?"

Beverley shook her head. "Roger and I went straight ahead to a newsstand
where _I_ expected to meet a person. Two or three minutes after we
passed O'Reilly we were mixed up in a big crowd, almost fighting our way
through...."

"Oh, a big crowd!" Clo broke in. "A chance for that pickpocket. Suppose
he came the minute you had turned your backs on O'Reilly, and he sent
his trained thief after you, hot foot, to get that envelope?"

"Ah, but you've forgotten something!" cried Beverley. "A thief might get
the envelope: I'll admit that. But how could he have another one exactly
like it, with the same seals, the same m