"That's the joke of it. It isn't patented yet. And all we need is the working model, and we can make one like it and patent it ourselves. Are you with me?" "I guess so--yes!" was the answer. "Good, then we'll get the model to-night and start a patent of our own. I know where he's taken it." There was a scraping of chairs, indicating that the men were leaving. Ruth and Alice gazed at each other with startled eyes. CHAPTER XXII THE WARNING "Did you hear that?" asked Ruth of Alice, in a whisper. "Yes! Hush! Don't let them hear you!" Ruth looked apprehensively over the back of her chair, but beheld no one. The noise made by the men as they were going out grew fainter. Alice rose from her chair. "What are you going to do?" asked Ruth, laying a detaining hand on her sister's arm. "I'm going to see who those men are." "Don't. They may----" Alice made a gesture of silence. "I'm pretty sure who one of them is," she whispered, as she bent down close to Ruth. "But I want to make certain." "But Alice----" "Now, Ruth, be sensible," went on Alice, as she passed around back of her sister's chair. "You heard what was said. I'm sure those men have some designs on that patent Russ has worked so hard over. We must tell him about them, and put him on his guard." "You may get into danger." It was curious how, in this emergency--as she had often done of late--Alice took the lead over her older sister. And Ruth did not object to it, but seemed to follow naturally after Alice led the way. "Danger!" laughed Alice softly, as she came to a position behind the screen, whence she could note who the men going out were. "There's no danger in a public restaurant like this. And I'm only going to make sure who that man is. Then we'll go tell Russ." Ruth made no further objection, and turned to watch her sister. The men had come to a halt at the desk of the cashier, to pay their checks, and their backs were toward Alice. An instant later, however, one of them had turned around and faced toward the rear of the restaurant. Alice darted behind the screen with a quick intaking of her breath. She had recognized the man, and was fearful lest he know her. For he was the fellow with whom Russ had been in dispute in the hallway that day, when the DeVeres' door had flown open. "Simp Wolley!" whispered Alice, in tense tones to Ruth. "It's that man who was after Russ's patent." "Then don't let him see you." "I won't--no danger. They're going out now. Come on!" "Where?" asked Ruth, as Alice reached for her gloves. "We must go to warn Russ." "But we haven't eaten what we ordered," objected Ruth, pointing to the food, hardly touched, on the table. "No matter, we can pay for it." "But the cashier will think it so odd." "What do we care. It's our food--we'll pay for it, and we can do what we like with it then. We can eat it or not." "But they'll think it so queer. They may think we have some prejudice against it, and----"