"All good men; I can vouch for every one of them."
"And John Zabel, James Zabel?"
"Irreproachable, both of them. Famous ship—builders once, but the change to iron ship-building has thrown them out of business. Pity, too, for they were remarkable builders. By the by, Fenton, we don't see them at church or on the docks any more."
"No, they keep very much to themselves; getting old, like ourselves,
Talbot."
"Lively boys once. We must hunt them up, Fenton. Can't bear to see old friends drop away from good company. But this isn't business. You need not pause over their names, Knapp."
But Knapp had slipped out.
We will follow him.
Walking briskly down the street, he went up the steps of a certain house and rang the bell. A gentleman with a face not entirely unknown to us came to the door.
The detective did not pause for preliminaries.
"Are you Mr. Crane?" he asked,—"the gentleman who ran against a man coming out of Mrs. Webb's house last night?"