Jennie closed the door and walked down the passage, followed by Fleming, who smiled with satisfaction at his own tact and shrewdness, as, indeed, he had every right to do. In the deserted sitting-room was a writing-table, and Jennie sat down beside it, motioning Fleming to a chair opposite her. 'Now,' she said, drawing some paper towards her, and taking up a pen, 'what is this important bit of news?' 'Well, before we begin,' replied Fleming, 'I would like to tell you why I interfered on shipboard and let that Englishman know who you were.' 'Never mind that. Better let it rest.' There was a flash of anger in the girl's eye, but, in spite of it, Fleming continued. He was a persistent man. 'But it has some bearing on what I'm going to tell you. When I saw you on board the _Caloric_, my heart went down into my boots. I thought the game was up, and that you were after me. I was bound to find out whether the _Argus_ knew anything of my trip or not, and whether it had put you on my track. Only five men in New York knew of my journey across, and as a good deal depended on secrecy, I had to find out in some way whether you were there for the purpose of--well, you know. So I spoke to the Englishman, and raised a hornets' nest about my ears; but I soon saw you had no suspicion of what I was engaged in, otherwise I would have had to telegraph to certain persons then in London, and scatter them.' 'Dear me! And what villainy were you concocting? Counterfeiting?' 'No; politics. Just as bad, I suppose you think. Now, do you know where Crupper is?' 'The Boss of New York? I heard before I left that he was at Carlsbad for his health.' 'He was there,' said Fleming mysteriously; 'but now----' The politician solemnly pointed downwards with his forefinger. 'What! Dead?' cried Jennie, the ominous motion of Fleming's finger naturally suggesting what all good people believed to be the arch-thief's ultimate destination. 'No,' said Fleming, laughing; 'he's in this hotel.' 'Oh!' 'Yes, and Senator Smollet, leader of the Conscientious Party, is here too, although you don't meet them in the halls as often as you do me. These good men supposed to be political opponents, are lying low and saying nothing.' 'I see. And they've had a conference.' 'Exactly. Now, it's like this.' Fleming pulled a sheet of paper towards him, and drew on it an oval. 'That's New York. We'll call it a pumpkin-pie, if you like, the material of which it is composed being typical of the heads of its conscientious citizens. Or a pigeon-pie, perhaps, for the New Yorker is made to be plucked. Well, look here.' Fleming drew from a point in the centre several radiating lines. 'That's what Crupper and Smollet are doing in London. They're dividing the pie between the two parties.' 'That's very interesting, but how are they going to deliver the pieces?'