The game was simply to
identify the 'Mr. House-smith' who had advertised for his ninety-
and- nine kisses, and the clap-trap of the message in telegraphic
characters, and all the rest of it, were simply the kind of bait at
which so eccentric a person might be expected to bite. The
gentleman with one ear larger than the other desired to find the
elusive Mademoiselle D., erstwhile dispenser of kisses at an East
Side charity bazaar, and, consequently, he was following up every
possible clew. He wanted 'Mr. House- smith,' and I wanted him.
"Fight shadows with shadows, remember; and so I took service with
my honest friend, David Brown, dealer in groceries at West Fourth
and Eleventh streets. He was rather offish at first, but Mattson,
at Police Head- quarters, had provided me with a special detective
badge, and Mr Brown was led to believe that I was working up a case
of graft. He lent me a jumper, and I was forthwith installed behind
the counter.
"Everything went off according to schedule. The 'shadow' had his
cab in readiness and I had mine. He trailed you to No. 4020 Madison
Avenue, and I followed Mr. Shadow to the Central Detective Office.
It seems to have been a case of sleuth against sleuth, with the
match all square."
"Anything else?"
"Well, yes.
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