"Well," he muttered slowly, his eyes still on the floor, "he was sort o' short, an' fat, an'—an' had a—a squint in one eye. His hair was—light. That's all I know about him."
For a moment Barry sat regarding the small face screwed up into a fearsome scowl, noted the twitching eyebrows, and the clenched fists visible through the cloth of the blue trousers. Then he shook his head.
"I'm afraid, Jimmy," he murmured, "that your bump of observation isn't very well developed. Are you sure the man wasn't tall and slim and dark, and rather good looking?"
The red-headed youngster gasped, and, flinging back his head, met Lawrence's eyes squarely for the first time.
"How in blazes did you——" he stammered; and then broke off abruptly, a vivid flush staining his freckled face.
"I guessed," Barry returned quietly. "Look here, Jimmy," he went on, in a low, vibrant tone. "I'm going to tell you something which I haven't spoken of to a soul to-night. I'm doing this because I need your help—badly. A young girl is in trouble. She's been carried off by some men whom she's never harmed in any way, and I've got to get her back—I've simply got to! That fellow who gave you the letter at the Merton House is one of the gang. That's why I want to know what he looks like. That's why I'm sure you're going to tell me everything you can, for he's a scoundrel, Jimmy, nothing less; and no decent man would try to shield him once he knew how bad he was."
For the second time the boy looked straight into Barry's eyes. His face was still flushed, but there was upon it an expression of intense, overpowering interest.
"Is that straight, mister?" he demanded excitedly. Jimmy had always pined to be mixed up in some really big crime, but this was the nearest he had come to realizing his dream. "You ain't stringin' me?"
"I'm telling you the solemn truth," Lawrence returned seriously. "If the reporters got on to it, there'd be the biggest kind of excitement in the newspapers. She's the niece of Mrs. Wilmerding; one of the richest women in New York, you know."
The youngster's eyes were popping out by this time, but he still seemed to hesitate.