CHAPTER XX. 

FOLLOWING ALLEN. 

Hal was astonished to learn from Katie McCabe that Dick Ferris was coming up the tenement stairs. 

"He can't be coming here!" exclaimed the youth. 

"What shall we do if he does?" asked McCabe. 

"I don't know. Perhaps I had better hide. He may----" 

At that instant came a knock on the door. 

"It's him!" whispered Katie. 

Andy McCabe, the father, pointed to a closet. Hal tiptoed his way to it, and motioned for Katie to follow. The door was closed, and then Andy McCabe answered the summons. 

Ferris stood at the door, his hair disheveled and his lips trembling. 

"May I ask who lives here?" he asked. 

"My name is McCabe." 

"Isn't there a man by the name of Macklin living here?" went on Ferris. 

"Macklin?" repeated McCabe, slowly. 

"Yes, Tommy Macklin." 

"Not as I know on. What does he do?" 

"I don't know. I have a letter to deliver to him. So you don't know where he lives?" 

"No, sir." 

"It's too bad. Will you please tell me what time it is?" 

Andy McCabe glanced at the alarm clock that stood on the mantel-shelf. 

"Quarter to six." 

"As late as that!" cried Ferris. "I must hurry and catch him before six. Only quarter of an hour. Good-day, sir." 

"Good-day." 

In a moment Ferris was gone. McCabe closed the door, and Hal came out of the closet followed by Katie. 

"What does he mean?" questioned the man. 

"I'll tell you what it means," said Hal. "He is trying to prove an alibi, in case a body was found in the vat. He thinks you can remember he was here looking for Macklin at quarter to six. If that was true, how could he have helped Macklin at five o'clock?" 
why?
 He thinks you can remember he was here looking for Macklin at quarter to six. If that was true, how could he have helped Macklin at five o'clock?"