"There you go! If I'd done that, there wouldn't have been any publicity; oh, no!" Deering replied contemptuously. "People don't carry big bunches of bonds around in suitcases; they send 'em by registered express. Of course, if the girl was honest she'd report the matter to the railroad officials and they'd notify the police, and they'd be looking for the thief! And that's just what I don't want." "Of course not," Hood assented readily. "That was Wednesday and this is Friday, and you haven't seen any ads in the papers about a suitcase full of bonds? Well, I'd hardly have missed such a thing myself. What did the girl look like?" "Small, dressed in blue and wearing a white veil. She made a lively sprint for the gate, and climbed into the last car just as the train started. The conductor yelled to her not to try it, but the porter jumped out and pushed her up the steps." At Hood's suggestion Deering brought the suitcase that had been exchanged for his own, and disclosed its contents--a filmy night-dress, a silk shirt-waist, a case of ivory toilet articles bearing a complicated monogram, a bottle of violet-water, half empty, a pair of silk stockings, a novel, a pair of patent-leather pumps, all tumbled together. [Illustration: "The young person left in haste, that's clear enough," remarked Hood.] "The young person left in haste, that's clear enough," remarked Hood, balancing one of the pumps in his hand. "'Bonet, Paris,'" he read, squinting at the lining. "Most deplorable that we have both slippers; one would have been a clew, and we could have spent the rest of our lives measuring footprints. Very nice slippers, though; fastidious young person, I'll wager. The monogram on these trinkets is of no assistance--it might be R. G. T., or T. G. R., or G. R. T. Monograms are a nuisance, a delusion, a snare!" Deering flung the faintly scented violet-tinted toilet-case into the bag resentfully. "The silly little fool; why didn't she mind what she was doing!" he exclaimed angrily, "and not steal other people's things!" "Pardon me," Hood remonstrated, "but from your story the less you speak of stealing the better. But it isn't clear yet why you sneaked the bonds. Your father has a reputation for generosity; you're an only son and slated to succeed him in the banking-house. Just what was your idea in starting for Boston with the loot?"