OLD SPICER INTERVIEWS CORA BELL.
Old Spicer had no difficulty in finding No. 22 Sixth Avenue; and having gained an entrance to the house, he rapidly ascended to the third floor.
One glance satisfied him as to which were Miss Bell's apartments, and he knocked at the door of her reception-room.
After a moment's waiting, he heard light footsteps approaching from an inner room; then the door opened, and a young woman about twenty-two years of age, with a fine form and a very pretty face, stood before him.
She seemed struck with amazement as her eyes rested on the tall, spare form and somewhat aged face of the famous detective. Then his eyes—those wonderful eyes which had searched so many hearts and made so many criminals tremble—troubled her.
"Who—who did you wish to see?" she at length managed to stammer forth.
"Your own sweet self, and no one else," returned Old Spicer, with his most winning smile and in his most pleasing tones.
"Do you know me, sir?" asked the young woman, in surprise. "I don't remember ever having seen you before."
"Oh, yes; I know you very well, my dear. There are young ladies and young ladies, but there can be but one Cora Bell."
"Oh, sir, I fear you are a flatterer," exclaimed the pleased girl. "Will you walk in?"