Closely following her came the woman with auburn tresses, tightly grasping the hand of a red-headed, freckled lad, then more neatly clad than Lucy Sloan had described, as was the woman herself. All three were clad for the street, in fact, and evidently were departing on an important mission.
As quick as a flash, the instant he caught sight of them, Patsy crouched back of a vine-covered trellis near the corner of the house. He could see them plainly through the drooping foliage, which effectively hid himself, nevertheless, and a single glance convinced him that he had found one retreat, at least, of the much-desired quarry.
“Duffy’s wife—Margaret Duffy, instead of Margaret Hanson,” he said to himself. “Little Jimmie Duffy, too, who made the abduction trick possible. They have entered him young on the criminal-trotting circuit, but I’ll nip him in the first heat and backtrack him. H’m, what now?”
Kate Crandall had stopped short upon reaching the front gate. Through the meshes of her dainty veil Patsy could see the gleam and glitter of her intense black eyes, and the peculiar pallor of her clear, velvety complexion. She spoke when turning, saying a bit sharply:
“You do what I have told you, Maggie, and you’ll make no mistake. We have framed up this job too perfectly for any slip-up to occur. You go out there with the kid and wait until we come. Gleason will take us out after the preliminaries are arranged. That done, we shall not be long in landing the coin. I know, Maggie; you can bet on that.”
“Well, I’m banking on your judgment, Kate, though I’m a bit skeery,” Maggie Duffy vouchsafed. “I’ll take Jimmie along, all the same, and wait until you come.”
“We’ll show up soon after dark,” Kate assured her. “I must be off, now, to phone to Conroy. He’ll be in the air by this time. I’m to join him later and go out with them in the car.”
“I know about that, Kate.”
“Get a move on, then, and look after the goods. There is nothing to fear, so don’t lose your sand. We’ll win out a mansion in Easy Street, Maggie, take my word for it.”
Kate Crandall turned with the last and walked rapidly away.