Sayre was decidedly cheered up at the thought that the great detective was really coming to take up the case.
Himself a good organizer and an indefatigable worker, he could accomplish wonders in his own business or in fields with which he was familiar. But as a detective he knew absolutely nothing, and he didn’t fool himself into thinking he did, as so many amateurs are fain to do.
Pete Gibby had vaunted his own powers a little, but of late he had subsided for he found he had no practical knowledge of sleuthing in any of its phases.
Saturday evening, the evening of the intended wedding day, dragged.
But after dinner some Hilldale people had telephoned over for such of the young people as cared to, to come to a small dance, and Betty and Nell wanted to go.
Gibby and Burton Lamb went wi
