"Well, I'll be able to prove quite presently or sooner that the price is correctly O.K.," said Mr. Gubb, "because the leading head of the Rising Sun Deteckative Agency is right in town to-day, and as soon as he gets done with a job he has on hand he's going up to see you. Maybe you've heard of Allwood Burns. He wrote the 'Twelve Correspondence Lessons in Deteckating' by which I graduated out of the Deteckative Correspondence School." "Never heard of him in my life," said the Judge. "This here," said Mr. Gubb, not without pride, "is a personal letter I got from him this A.M. just now," and he handed the Judge the letter. Judge Orley Morvis took the letter with an air of disdain and began to read it with a certain irritating superciliousness. Almost immediately he began to turn red behind the ears. Then his ears turned red. Then his whole face turned red. He breathed hard. His hand shook with rage. "Well, of all the infernal--" he began and stopped. "Has the aforesaid impostor been to see _you_?" asked Philo Gubb eagerly. "Me? Nonsense!" exclaimed the Judge violently. "Do you think I would be taken in by a child's trick like this? Nonsense, Mr. Gubb, nonsense!" "I didn't hardly think it was possible," said Detective Gubb. "Possible?" cried the Judge with anger. "Do you think a common faker like that could hoodwink _me_? Me give an impostor twenty dollars! Nonsense, sir!" He arose. He was in a great rage about it. He stamped to the door. "And don't let me hear you retailing any such lie about me around this town, sir!" he exclaimed. He slammed the door, and then the Bald Impostor slowly raised his head above the desk. "What did you hide for?" asked Philo Gubb. The Bald Impostor wiped his bedewed brow. "Hide?" he said questioningly. "Oh, yes, I did hide, didn't I? Yes. Yes, I hid. You see--you see the Judge came in." "If you hadn't hid," said Philo Gubb, "I could have got that business of the per diem charge per day fixed up right here. I was going to introduce him to you." "Yes--going to introduce him to me," said the Bald Impostor. "That was it. That was why I hid. You were going to introduce him to me, don't you see?" "I don't quite comprehend the meaning of the reason," said Philo Gubb. "Why, you see," said the Bald Impostor glibly,--"you see--if you introduced me to him--why--why, he'd know me." "He'd know you?" said Philo Gubb. "He'd know me," repeated the false Mr. Burns. "I'll tell you why. The Bald Impostor _did_ call on him." "Honest?" "I was there," said the Bald Impostor. "The Judge gave him twenty dollars and a copy of some book or other he had written, and he wrote his autograph in the book. Remember that. The Judge wrote his autograph in a book--and gave it to the fellow. I'm telling you this so you can tell the Judge. Tell him I told you. Tell him the fellow's mother is much better now. Tell him Judge Bassio Bates's toe is quite well. And then ask him for the twenty dollars he owes you. You'll get it."