“No, sir,” she said. “I don’t think I would care to be. Their reputation is not very good.” Patsy now saw plainly that the woman could be safely trusted. He drew a little nearer to her, displaying his detective badge and saying quietly: “I am aware of it. In fact, madam, I know all about them. I am a detective, as you may see, and I am anxious to watch the doings of a man who, I think, is going into the back door of that house. Would you like to earn five dollars without lifting your finger?” The woman laughed softly, with eyes lighting. “I could use five dollars very nicely,” she replied. “I don’t often get an opportunity to earn as much so easily. I infer that you want something of me.” “I merely wish to use your second-floor back windows for the purpose of watching the man and that side of the house,” Patsy informed her. “Ah, I see.” “I give you my word that I will disturb nothing, and that no one will ever be the wiser,” he added. “I will pay you in advance. Here is the money.” He tendered it with the last, and the woman accepted it. “I’m glad to get it so easily,” she said, after thanking him. “As a matter of fact, sir, I would like to see those people cleaned out of the house. High jinks take place in there some nights.” “I think they soon will occupy other quarters,” smiled Patsy significantly. “May I go in at once?” “Certainly, sir.” “You need not come to the door. Just move a little to one side, and I will step by you and get in the window. Keep on with your work, please, so that nothing may be suspected.” “I will, sir.” Patsy easily passed the woman, stepping through the low window, and he then hastened up to a back room on the next floor, from a window of which he cautiously peered. This crafty move was a wise one on his part, in that Glidden failed to discover the spy a little later. Supposing, of course, that Goulard had gone into the house by that time, Patsy took a swift look at the surroundings outside. There was a yard back of the Badger house, partly occupied by a wooden porch, the door of which was accessible from the alley mentioned. Beyond the alley was a narrow passageway between the rear walls of the near buildings, a passage running in the direction of the river, and through which he could see a bit of the faded side wall of the lime dealer’s building. “Gee whiz! there’s the rat, now,” flashed suddenly through Patsy’s mind. “He has not gone in, after all. He still is watching the house.” Patsy had caught sight of Goulard’s head, thrust cautiously around the corner of a shed in the near distance. He was gazing at the windows of the Badger house. Presently, after glancing sharply around, Goulard emerged from his concealment and approached the entrance to the porch mentioned. At the same moment, giving Patsy a second surprise, he caught sight of a man coming rapidly through the passageway from the lime shed.