"Here's a roll of bills," he said. "Keep up the game, Murk. Don't get too far away." "I'll be right at your heels, boss." "And keep your eyes open." "Yes, sir." "That woman was Kate Gilbert." "Then I'll know her whenever I see her again, sir." Prale hurried on down the path. Murk kept pace with him, a short distance behind. Kate Gilbert had been walking swiftly. She had reached the street, and, as Prale watched, she crossed it. Prale followed. The girl did not look behind. She came to the middle of the block and ran up the steps of an apartment house. Prale passed the entrance, glanced at the number, and continued down the street. At the corner he allowed Murk to catch up with him. "She turned in at the address Jim Farland gave us," Prale said. "She has gone home, Murk. I fancy that we are done with her for to-day!" A lot he knew about it! CHAPTER XV A MOMENT OF VIOLENCE Sidney Prale turned around and walked back along the street to the Park, Murk once more following at a short distance, as he had been ordered to do. Because he wanted to think of his predicament, Prale crossed into the Park and began following one of the paths toward the south, making his way along it slowly, paying little attention to the persons he passed now and then. He crossed a drive and followed another path; and now he came to a secluded spot where the path was hidden from passers-by on the other walks and drives. Here the way ran through a tiny gulch, the sides of which were banked with bushes. Squirrels scampered and birds chattered at him, but Prale saw none of them. He was trying to explain to himself why Kate Gilbert had warned him to leave New York, why she had interested herself in his affairs at all, asking himself for the thousandth time what species of net it was in which he suddenly had found himself enmeshed without knowing the reason for it. He had demanded information and it had not been given him. She had said nothing at all that gave him an inkling as to the nature of what seemed to be a plot against him. He had been as firm as he dared, he told himself. A man could not threaten a woman, could not use violence in an attempt to make her speak and reveal secrets. "We'll have to work from another corner," Sidney Prale told himself. "I can't threaten a woman, but I can pummel a man; and if I meet George Lerton again, I am liable to forget what Jim Farland told me and use my own methods." He walked on through the tiny ravine. He came to a cross path, and a man lurched down it and against him. "Beg pardon!" Prale murmured. "Wonder you wouldn't look where you're going!" the other exclaimed. "Got an idea you own the whole Park, or something like that? Men like you shouldn't be running around loose!" "You ran into me, not I into you," Prale reminded him.