sleep without getting an assurance from you that there's nothing in it."
"Let me see. I told you once that if you would do something for me you should have your reward."
"Yes."
"And you haven't done it."
"The job is under way. You can't do a thing of that kind in a day. The agreement with the men expired less than a week ago."
"You think you will bring what I wish to pass?"
"I surely do."
"Then you needn't be afraid of Barry Malleson. A thousand of his kind will not keep your reward from you."
"Thank you, Mary. I knew all along that you were only pulling the wool over his eyes, but this infernal story to-day got me going."
"Dismiss it from your mind. How far are you going to walk with me?"
"To Main Street. I promised to meet Bricky Hoover at the Silver Star at half-past five."
"Good! I shall take a car from there to the foot of Factory Hill."
An automobile turned the corner slowly within three feet of them as they walked. A woman, sitting alone in the tonneau, looked out at them sharply, and turned her head to watch them as she went by. It was Miss Chichester. They both recognized her.
"A friend of yours," said Lamar.
"A friend of a friend of mine," was the reply. "She has found a new reason for poisoning his mind concerning me."
"What is that?"
"I have been seen walking with Steve Lamar on a secluded street after nightfall."
He laughed. "That is indeed an offense," he said. "Let us do something that will enlarge it into a scandal."
