Our hero stopped short, stepped toward the stoop on which the girl was sitting, and asked:
"Do you speak English?"
"Yes," came the answer, and again the maiden smiled a bewildering smile.
"Do you live in these houses?"
"Yes."
"Do you know a young lady named Fennetti?"
"That is my name," and the girl smiled even more sweetly than before. The detective did not smile, however, but the regret shot through his mind: "Why in thunder did I chance to pitch upon that name?"
"I am looking for a Miss Fennetti, a drawing teacher."
"I am a drawing teacher," came the startling answer.
The detective for a moment was knocked endways, but he was a young officer of wonderful resource and he said: