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He was studying reflections in the showroo just gone in the front and out the back of the Nassau Café, when he found himself on Maiden Lane-New York’s jewelers’ district The upper floors of the four- and five-story cast-iron-fronte

d buildings that darkened the sky were a beehive of geoldsmiths, and watchmakers Below the factories and workroolea like pirate chests

As Bell cast a sharp eye up and down the narrow street, his stern visage softened and a quizzical s at the corners of histhe pavee, smartly dressed in topcoats and derbies, but with shoulders sloped and faces bewildered as they blundered in and out of the jewelry shops Bachelors about to proposeto seal a e

Bell’s ser This was a fine happenstance Maybe no one had followed hi” with a sense of humor had foxed his ordinarily trustworthy sixth sense to send hi into lower Manhattan for the express purpose of buying his beautiful fiancée an engage

Isaac Bell’s s the sidewalk and littered with myriad possibilities and infinite choices Finally, the tall detective took the bull by the horns He squared his shoulders and strode into the shop that looked the most expensive

THE CHILD WHO WATCHED Isaac Bell enter the jeweler’s shop-a boy as clean enough not to be chased out of the jewelry district and had a shoeshine box strapped to his back as a disguise-waited to be sure that the Van Dorn had not ducked inside just to give theain He was the fourth to have trailed their quarry on his circuitous ra the shadowy silhouettes of Bell and the jeweler through the , he signaled another boy and passed hiotta report”

He ran the few short blocks west into the tenement-and-warehouse district that bounded the North River, darted into the pier-side Hudson Saloon, and made for the free lunch

“Get outta here!” roared a bartender

“Co liverwurst between slabs of stale bread “Make it quick!”

“Sorry, kid Didn’t recognize you This way” The bartender ushered him into the saloon owner’s private office, which had the only telephone in the neighborhood The oatched him warily

“Get out,” said the boy “This ain’t none of your business”

The owner locked his desk and left, shaking his head There was a time when a Hell’s Kitchen Gopher ventured don into this neighborhood, he’d end up hanging from a lamppost But that time had ended fast

The boy telephoned Commodore Tommy’s Saloon They said Toht back That was strange The boss was always in his saloon People said Toht in years He stepped out to the free lunch for another sandwich, and when he returned the phone was ringing Co When he got done yelling, the boy told hi froe

“Where is he now?”

“Maiden Lane”