motionless in the chair with her eyes fast on the wall, Cassidy
relapsed into silence, during which he stared rather perplexedly
at his chief, who seemed to be in the throes of unusual emotion.
As the detective expressed it in his own vernacular: For the
first time in his experience, the Inspector appeared to be
actually "rattled."

For a little time, there was silence, the while Burke sat staring
at the averted face of the girl. His expression was that of one
who has just undergone a soul-stirring shock. Then, presently,
he set his features grimly, rose from his chair, and walked to a
position directly in the front of the girl, who still refused to
look in his direction.

"Young woman----" he began, severely. Then, of a sudden he
laughed. "You picked the right business, all right, all right!"
he said, with a certain enthusiasm. He laughed aloud until his
eyes were only slits, and his ample paunch trembled vehemently.

"Well," he went on, at last, "I certainly have to hand it to you,
kid. You're a beaut'!"

Aggie sniffed vehemently in rebuke of the gross partiality of
fate in his behalf.

"Just as I had him goin'!" she said bitterly, as if in
self-communion, without shifting her gaze from the blank surface
of the wall.

Now, however, Burke was reminded once again of his official