"Yes, since you are willing. I must tell some one in authority. It is impossible for me to withhold what may be the means of detecting a criminal."
Mr. Randolph, upon leaving the hotel, went in search of Mr. Barnes. Meanwhile that gentleman was holding a conversation with Wilson.
"You say," said the detective, "that Mr. Mitchel gave you the slip again yesterday afternoon?"
"Yes. He doubled so often on his tracks on the elevated road that at last he eluded me, getting on a train which I failed to board. You see it was impossible to tell, till the moment of starting, whether he would take a train or not. He would mix with the crowd and seem anxious to get on, and then at the last moment step back. I had to imitate him at the other end of the coach, and finally he got on just as the guard at my end slammed the gates."
"This was at Forty-second Street?"
"Yes. He took the down train."
"Did he notice you in any way?"
"I suppose so; but no one would have guessed it. He appeared entirely ignorant of the fact that he was followed, so far as watching me was concerned."
"You are not to blame. Go back to his hotel, and do the best you can. Leave the rest to me. I will discover where it is he goes on these mysterious trips."