“But you didn’t!” said Harry triumphantly. “And it was the female detective that discovered you. Sherlock Holmes and Vidocq were out-detected by Estrella De Vere!”
“Eh?” asked Dick.
Then they told him all about their impersonations and he thought it was a huge joke, and mollified Harry completely by congratulating her on her triumph over the others. Then they compared notes for the past week.
“Where did you go the day we followed you to the stationery store?” asked Roy.
“I went out the back door and came around to the street and watched from the next corner until you crossed and went into the store. Then I went—about my business.”
“And that reminds me,” said Roy, “that we don’t know yet what you’re up to. Are you going to ’fess up now?”
“Sure. I’d have told you all about it long ago if you hadn’t begun this detective work. When I found what you were up to I thought I’d just give you a run for your money.”
“Is it anything about the F. H. S. I. S.?” asked Harry. Dick shook his head.
“No,” he replied. “The fact is that’s at a standstill, I guess. I’ve had it in mind right along, but I can’t think of any way to go ahead. How about you?”