Smilingly, he returned:
"I fear, madam, that you would find me very disappointing. No one that I
ever knew in my profession could hope to live up to the reputation
given us by the story-books. No secret service man living can remotely
approximate the deeds performed by the detectives of fiction. We are
very, very human, I can assure you."
"I am sure that you, at least, must be very kind," returned Auntie
Sue, gently. And the cheeks of the experienced officer flushed like the
cheeks of a schoolboy.
"Mr. Ross, Auntie Sue," said the Sheriff, "is, as I was telling you, one
of William J. Burns's big men."
Auntie Sue gave her attention to her big friend: "Yes?"
The Sheriff continued: "Now, the Burns people, you see, protect the
banks all over the country."
"Yes?" came, again, in a tone so low and gentle that the monosyllable
was scarcely heard.
The officer's loud voice went on: "And Mr. Ross, here, works most of
his time on these bank cases. Just now, he is trailing a fellow that got
away with a lot of money from the Empire Consolidated Savings Bank, of
Chicago, about a month ago;--that is, the man disappeared about a month
ago. He had been stealing along from the bank for about a year,--worked,
for them, you see."
"The Empire Consolidated Savings Bank!" Auntie Sue spoke the words in
a voice that was little more than a whisper.
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