Page:Watts Mumford--Whitewash.djvu/242

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WHITEWASH

"Oh, yes! " exclaimed Philippa, "you must let me go! Yes, telephone to Commissioner Holes; tell him to come himself and release me. Oh, I don't know what I shall do!"

"Whew!" whistled the sergeant, softly; "Commissioner Holes, is it? Well, well, now! But, Miss Ford, how did you come by these beauties? Maybe ye can give us a satisfactory explanation?"

"I can,—oh, I can! " Philippa exclaimed, pale with excitement. "Mr. Valdeck told me he was the head of the Polish Educational Society, and was collecting funds for the cause. He said he was watched by Russian spies and couldn't send the money on without being suspected and having everything seized and confiscated when it reached the other side—and of course I believed it all; indeed, I did!"

"Look at that, now," Mulligan nodded.

"Russian spies, is it? Sure, lady, it's the likes of you that makes the life easy for scamps and rogues. And what is the grand American police for? Sure, we haven't no use for nary a foreign spy."

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