He got the package, which weighed about twenty pounds, and left the store with it at a quarter-past five, when the porter closed up. The address Mrs. Patterson had given was on the West Side, in a district wholly occupied by fine private houses, except in a few instances, where there were handsome apartment houses on the corners. Dick took the elevated at Cortlandt street station and at ten minutes of six got out at the nearest station on Columbus avenue to the block he was bound for. It still wanted a minute or two of six when he mounted the high stoop of the handsome house which bore Mrs. Patterson's number. He rang the bell, and after the lapse of five minutes, during which interval he was, without his knowledge, inspected through the inside blinds on the parlor floor, a tall man, in good clothes, with a dark complexion, opened the door and asked him what he wanted. "Does Mrs. Henry Patterson live here?" he asked. "She does," replied the man. "Are you from Mr. Bacon's store on John street?" "I am." "Walk in." Dick entered and the heavy vestibule door was closed behind him. "You have brought the bill for the goods with you?" said the man, in smooth tones, as he led the way inside the inner door. "I have." "Very well. I am Mr. Patterson. As soon as my wife has examined the articles and checked them off I will pay you the money for them." The interior of the house, so far as Dick could judge from the looks of the hall, was in keeping with its external indications. "Follow me upstairs to the sitting room," said Mr. Patterson. Dick was introduced into the front room on the second floor which was handsomely furnished. The gentleman took the package and the itemized bill and pointed to a chair. Then he left the room. Ten minutes elapsed, during which Dick heard not a sound. The house was as silent as the grave. Then the door opened and Mr. Patterson reappeared. "The articles are all right and my wife has O. K.'d the bill," he said. "Step this way and I will pay you." Dick got up and followed him into the back room on the same floor. A chair was drawn up at the marble center table, and the boy was invited to be seated. Mr. Patterson went to a closet behind the boy and presently returned with a bunch of money, which he laid, with the bill, in front of him. "Count it, please, and see that the sum is correct," said the gentleman. Dick proceeded to do so. Mr. Patterson went back to the closet. In a moment or two he approached the boy so softly that Dick did not hear his steps. Even if he had he would have paid no attention to the gentleman's movements. Every one, it is said, is endowed with an instinctive sense that seems to be awakened by the unseen or unsuspected presence of another person in the room with us, particularly when that person is standing close behind. We cannot go into an explanation here of the phenomenon, but that it frequently comes to pass is an undoubted fact.