Two afternoons later all the girls were gathered in the parlor promptly at three, but Alexander had not yet put in an appearance. He attended the public school, which did not dismiss as early as high school, and he would probably be at least three quarters of an hour late, as he was usually kept in for misbehavior. During his absence, the girls discussed him eagerly.

"Do you know," vouchsafed Corinne, "I think he is the cleverest little rascal, and so comical that I want to laugh whenever I look at him! How is it I've never seen him before?"

"Why, the explanation is," answered Bess, "that he never stays in the house afternoons if he can possibly help it. He's always out running the streets or playing baseball in the127 vacant lots. But the other day it was cold and damp, and Sarah discovered that he had a bad sore throat and insisted that he stay indoors. He's rather afraid of Sarah, though he does tease her frightfully. That's why he was around trying hard to annoy us—he hadn't anything else to do!"

"Well, he's a little trump, anyway!" insisted Corinne. "And did you ever hear such a glorious collection of slang!"

"Isn't it awful!" sighed Margaret. "Mother is terribly worried about him and the way he talks. And yet she can't help laughing, herself, sometimes, at the funny things he says. Really, he often seems to be speaking in some foreign language that I can't understand a word of!"

"What does he mean by 'dope,' anyway?" mused Corinne. "I can't imagine, unless it's 'news' or 'information.' You just have to construe his remarks, as you do the Latin! I think we'll have to get a dictionary of slang if he keeps on like this!"

"But, oh, what do you suppose he is finding128 out!" exclaimed Margaret. "What can he possibly know that can have anything to do with our secret?"

"You never can tell!" said Bess. "He goes snooping around this neighborhood in all sorts of places, and talks with all sorts of people. Perhaps he has stumbled on something, though I have my doubts. But here he comes now!"

Alexander entered the house, slamming the basement door and singing at the top of his high sweet voice:
"On Richmond Hill there lived a lass,
More bright than May-day morn!"

After a preliminary scuffle and dispute with Sarah in the kitchen, probably over the question of cake, he came galloping upstairs, and burst in upon them with a military salute and:

"Hullo, pals! Do I have to give the high sign and the grand salaam?"

"Never mind that!" laughed Corinne. "Hurry up and tell us about this wonderful thing you know. We're crazy to hear!"

Alexander was visibly flattered, and drew a129 chair to the group by the fire, with an air of great importance.

"Well, it's this way," he began. "It hit me all of a sudden the other day, that I had the dope on something that might be right in your line o' goods. But I wasn't sure, and I wanted to nail it. Now I have nailed it—and it's O.K.!"

"Tell us, quick! Quick!" cried Margaret.

"Hey! put on the brakes a minute, kid!" he commented. "If you go so fast, you'll bust your speedometer! Do you know where McCorkle's stable is?"

All but Corinne nodded. For her enlightenment, he explained: "It's around on Varick Street between Charlton and Van Dam, on this side of the way."

"It's a funny old place, isn't it!" interrupted Margaret. "Sarah sometimes wheels me past it. The building looks awfully ramshackly. But what about it? Surely it can't have anything to do with our affair!"

"Just you douse your sparker and save gasoline!" chuckled Alexander. "Shows how130 much you know about things! You needed a man on this job! As I was going to say, I know Tim Garrity pretty well—he has charge of the horses. We're pretty good pals, and he gives me a whole lot of interesting dope, off and on. Last summer he told me something that stuck in my crop, but I didn't think of it again till the other day. Then I thought I'd go and nail it for certain, before I told you kids, and I got him to reel it off again yesterday. It's the dope, all right! I saw it myself!"

"For gracious sake, Alexander, don't keep us in suspense another minute!" implored Corinne.............