"Aha! my man!" I thought. I dropped it, saying: "That's not in my line."
This was how matters stood when things began to happen which drove all thought of Kenton Milbourne out of my mind.
The next day Sadie came into the office to report, looking so confoundedly pretty that it drove the detective business clean out of my mind for the moment. What with her thirty dollars a week from the theatre and her additional salary as operative (which Miss Hamerton insisted on her taking) Sadie was in affluent circumstances, and for the first time in her life she was able to dress as a pretty girl ought. With her Spring hat and suit, her dainty gloves and boots, all from the best shops, she was as smart a little lady as you'd find from one end of the Avenue to the other.
"You look sweet enough to eat!" I said, grinning at her like a Cheshire cat.
"Cut it out!" she said with her high and mighty air. "It's business hours. I'm operative S.F."
"What's that for, swell figure?"
"Wait till after the whistle blows."
"After hours you're Miss Covington the actress, and I'm not allowed to know you."
"Well, there's Sunday."
"But this is only Tuesday."