laid it on the bench in the little court room where Bunch sat
moodily and with bowed head.

Then I coaxed the rural Vidocq over in the corner and gave him a
game of talk that I thought would warm his heart, but he listened
in dumbness and couldn't see "no sense in believing the maleyfactor
was anythin' more'n a derned cuss, nohow!"

"I have every reason to believe that we have made a mistake," I
said to Harmony in a hoarse whisper. "From an envelope dropped by
this party in my house I am lead to believe that he's a respectable
gentleman who entered my premises quite by mistake."

The chin whiskers owned and engineered by Diggs bobbed up and down
as he chewed a reflective cud, but he couldn't see the matter in my
light at all.

I had used all kinds of arguments and was just about to give up in
despair when a voice in the doorway caused us both to turn.

There stood Bunch Jefferson, the real fellow, looking as fresh as a
daisy.

"What's the trouble, John?" he asked, smiling benignly on Diggs.

While I was talking to the representative of the law, Mr. Slick saw
his opportunity and grabbed it by the hind leg. He had quietly
reached the door, and once outside the sledding was excellent.

Bunch had his business suit on under the burglar make-up. It