McGinnis consented to carry the infant as they got out and once inside the station lost no time in turning it over to the matron.
"Hello, McGinnis," said Lieut. Einstein from the desk; "what's all this?"
McGinnis explained in a few crisp sentences.
"Is the captain in, Lieutenant?" he asked. "This young fellow is after trying to bribe me."
Barnes protested that such a thought had never entered his head.
"I simply told him," he declared hotly, "that I had an important engagement"----
"For a friend. I may have said policeman--I may have said anything in such a beastly situation. I am sure that when the captain hears me he will understand immediately."
"That may be true, sir," said the lieutenant politely, "but the captain is out at present and won't be back till after midnight. If you want to, you can sit in the back room and wait for him."
Further protestations were unavailing. With a sigh of despair Barnes permitted himself to be led to the back room, where he dropped down on a chair and looked savagely about him.
The room was empty and there was nothing to gaze at save four blank walls and a black cat sitting in a corner idly washing its paws. Now and then a door opened, a face peered in and the door shut again. Somewhere a clock ticked dolefully.
An hour passed while the young man sought in vain to enchain his incoherent thoughts. He could think of nothing vividly. He could recall nothing at all.
Whenever the wail of that infant the matron was caring for reached him he writhed and ground his teeth.
In this sad plight he remained until a door near him opened and a man in plain clothes came stealthily in. He walked straight to Barnes, bent down and whispered:
"If you've got a hundred-dollar bill about you drop it onto the floor and walk out. The lieutenant won't see you."
The individual turned on his heel and went out the way he had come. He did not shut the door tightly behind him. Barnes felt that an eye was watching through the slit, so he lost no time in jumping to his feet, getting his money out of his wallet and dropping two one-hundred-dollar bills on the floor.
This done, he jammed the wallet back in his pocket, picked up his cane and gloves and opened the door through which he had entered the room. He started warily forward with his eyes straight ahead. He could feel that the lieutenant who sat behind the high-railed-off desk was the only person in the room and he could hear the scratch of his busy pen.