John was certain that Mrs. Sprockett's husband knew as well as he did that Mrs. Sprockett was not with them. He had more than a suspicion that Mr. Sprockett, having seen the automobile bring Consuello, had crossed the street out of pure curiosity. "No," he said, shortly, an impulse rising in him to add, "and you know it." "I beg your pardon," said Mrs. Sprockett's husband, humbly. "She didn't say, you know--I thought she might have--the baby----" As on the night of his father's death John heard the Sprockett infant, who, he had a vague idea, was the eleventh or twelfth, wailing somewhere in the Sprockett home. "No trouble," he said, shutting the door in the other's face. They had been in the living room an hour after dinner when Mrs. Gallant rose. "You must excuse me, Miss Carrillo," she said. "There is a neighborly duty I must attend to. Please remain until I return; it won't be long." John was rather disappointed that his mother should leave them, but he understood how she was constantly being required for one reason or another by the neighbors. Alone, their conversation took another course. "And as things are now, after he has demonstrated his courage in a way that leaves no doubt, are there still those who are horrid enough to doubt Mr. Gibson?" she asked. He was bound by the confidence he had entered into with Brennan not to reveal any part of the mayor's view of Gibson and his suspicion that the commissioner was the tool of "Gink" Cummings. The mayor, however, had publicly taken his stand of "sitting tight," as Brennan had suggested, and had flatly refused to oust Chief Sweeney. "Yes," he answered. "Their doubt seems to have been made even stronger by what he did in preventing the wreck of the 'Lark.'" Her eyes opened in astonishment. "How?" she asked. "How can they possibly doubt him now?" He explained to her Brennan's view that Gibson's frustration of "Red Mike's" plot was a "grandstand play," without mentioning Brennan. She sat silent for several minutes after he had concluded. Then, raising her head and looking directly at him, she said: "Because we are friends I will tell you why I know so certainly that what you say cannot be true. Mr. Gibson and I have known each other since our school days. His father and mother were near and dear to my father and mother. He has been almost like a brother to me. "I believe I know him for what he is, a gentleman. I don't think there is anything of his plans in this crusade that he has not told me. He is kind enough to feel that I have his interest at heart, that I want him to succeed, for his own sake, for the sake of his family and his name.