Page:Arthur Stringer--The House of Intrigue.djvu/20

10 me up and using me as a spotter on that Fifth Avenue bus-route. Then you saw I wasn't a failure on that Rosenthal wire-tapping case and even decided to send me into society. You found you could rent me out as a guard for those Fifth Avenue weddings where the bride's family don't seem above stealing back the silver butter-dishes if they get the chance. I could go among those guests without any of them dreaming I wasn't one of them. I could live at the St. Regis for three weeks, when I had to shadow those Nevada mine-swindlers for you, without even the house-detective finding out I wasn't one of the Four Hundred. And I didn't object to any of that work. I almost liked the excitement of it. I was helping you to run down crooks. And I soon saw how clever you were at that work. You seemed to know all their tricks, and just how their minds worked, and just what they'd do under any given conditions. And now I know why. You could understand them, and forestall them, every move, because you were one of them. I know, now, that you were nothing but—"

"Stop!" boomed out Big Ben, and I had the satisfaction of seeing his color deepen.

"But you don't know women, Mr. Locke," I swept on, for the whole thing had rather gone to my head