"So far as I know," said the former operative. "Of course, Washington never heard about that part of the case. They were too well satisfied with Ezra's haul and the incoming cargo, which they also landed, to care much about the Petersens. So the whole thing was entered on Marks's record precisely as he had figured it--a fifty-fifty split. You see, even government agents aren't always completely successful--especially when they're fighting Cupid as well as crooks!" XIX THE CLUE IN THE CLASSIFIED COLUMN Quinn tossed his evening paper aside with a gesture in which disgust was mingled in equal proportion with annoyance. "Why is it," he inquired, testily, "that some fools never learn anything?" "Possibly that's because they're fools," I suggested. "What's the trouble now?" "Look at that!" And the former Secret Service operative recovered the paper long enough to indicate a short news item near the bottom of the first page--an item which bore the headline, "New Fifty-Dollar Counterfeit Discovered." "Yes," I agreed, "there always are people foolish enough to change bills without examining them any too closely. But possibly this one is very cleverly faked." "Fools not to examine them!" echoed Quinn. "That isn't the direction in which the idiocy lies. The fools are the people who think they can counterfeit Uncle Sam's currency and get away with it. Barnum must have been right. There's a sucker born every minute--and those that don't try to beat the ponies or buck the stock market turn to counterfeiting for a living. They get it, too, in Leavenworth or Atlanta or some other place that maintains a federal penitentiary. "They never seem to learn anything by others' experience, either. You'd think, after the Thurene case, it would be perfectly apparent that no one could beat the counterfeiting game for long." "The Thurene case? I don't seem to remember that. The name is unusual, but--" "Yes, and that wasn't the only part of the affair that was out of the ordinary," Quinn cut in. "Spencer Graham also contributed some work that was well off the beaten path--not forgetting the assistance rendered by a certain young woman." * * * * * Probably the most remarkable portion of the case [continued Quinn] was the fact that Graham didn't get in on it until Thurene had been arrested. Nevertheless, if it hadn't been for his work in breaking through an ironclad alibi the government might have been left high and dry, with a trunkful of suspicions and mighty little else.