I was waited for by Dick at a street corner on the afternoon of the following day. When I saw him I was a little pleased, as I thought it possible that I might get out of him all I wanted in regard to the strange woman. But as Dick was full to the eyes with his own affairs, I let him chatter about them first. “I can give you the straight tip about Brettle at last,” he eagerly began. “Do you expect me to pay you for it?” I quietly interposed. “No, no, not a penny.” “You work for nothing, then—for the mere love of the thing?” I said, with a palpable sneer. “Just that,” he said, swallowing the insult smilingly. “Brettle is to break into a shop in Leith Street to-night—Calderston’s, No.—. The place above enters from the Terrace, and the key of that is sent home every night by a drunken porter. Brettle will treat him on the way, get the key from him, and work inside all night. Perhaps he will stay there over the Sunday. He is to work the job single-handed, and take the plunder out by the Terrace stair in different lots.” “And who arranged all this for him?” I asked, nailing Dick’s shifty glance with a steady stare. “Oh, I don’t know—himself, I suppose,” he confusedly answered. That was enough for me. I saw that Dick had arranged it all as a nice trap for Brettle. What could be his object? “Dick,” I said suddenly, after noting down all he had revealed, “have you any idea what has become of Brettle’s wife, Pretty Polly?” The start the man gave! and his face! I never thought that there was such a blush in him. “Dead, I think,” he guiltily stammered, after a horrible pause. I thought not, and said so. “She couldn’t be married again, to a richer man?” I suggestively observed. “I understand she and Brettle were lawfully man and wife.” Dick’s face was the picture of guilt and confusion. If the ground could have swallowed him at that moment I imagine he would have been thankful. I was reading all the answers to the questions which had puzzled me for days in his tell-tale features. “You have seen her lately, then?” “No,” he faltered, while his face said “Yes,” and cursed me into the bargain. “And have you no idea where she could be found?” “Not the least,” he said, with the lie almost choking him. “Imphm! Well, that’s all I want with you just now,” I coldly remarked, and with a dive he was gone.