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Show Ii.iii.l.....i.iliiii.i.lirij mil Hi. mm i lilwiBiwita..liww,iwil PICTURES -i- -yf.WstL- ZOUIfJOJPHVANCR, And forthwith Maltland's cigarette case was produced, with a flourish. "What a beautiful case!" In an instant it was in her hands. "Beautiful!" she iterated, inspecting the delicate tracery of the monogram engraver's art head bended forward, face shaded by the broad-brimmed hat. "You like it? You would care to ov-'n it?" Anisty demanded, unsteadily. "I?" The Inflection of doubtful surprise sur-prise was a delight to the ear. "Oh! . . s I -couldn't think of accepting. . . . Besides, I have no use for it." "Of course you ain't are not that sort." An hour back he could have kicked himself for the grammatical b'under; now he was wholly illuded; besides, she didn't seem to notice. "But as a little token between us " She drew back, pushing the case across the cloth; "I couldn't dream " "But if I insist ?" "If you insist? . . . Why, I suppose sup-pose . . . it's awfully good of you." She flashed him a maddening glance. "You do me pro honor," he amended, amend-ed, hastily. Then, daringly: "I don't ask much in exchange, only " "A cigarette?" she suggested, hastily. He laughed, pleased and diverted. "That'll be enough now if you'll light it for me." She glanced dubiously round the now almost deserted room; and a waiter started forward as if animated by a spring. Anisty motioned him imperiously imperi-ously back. "Go on," he coaxed; "no one can see." And watched, flattered, the slim white fingers that extracted a match from the stand "and drew it swiftly down the prepared surface of the box, holding the flickering flams to the end of a white tube whose tip lay between lips curved, scarlet, and pouting. "There!" A pale wraith of smoke floated away on the fan-churned air, and Anisty was vaguely conscious of receiving the glowing cigarette from a hand whose sheer perfection was but enhanced by the ripe curves of a rounded forearm. . . . He inhaled deeply, with satisfaction. Undetected by him, the girl swiftly passed a furtive handkerchief across her lips. When he looked again she was smiling and the g61den case had disappeared. She shook her head at him in mock reproval. "Bold man!" she called him; but the crudity of it was lost upon him, as she had believed it would be. The moment had come for vigorous measures, meas-ures, she felt, guile having paved the way. "Why do you call me that?" "To appear so openly running the gauntlet of the detectives." "Eh?" startled. "Of course you saw," she insisted. "Saw? No. Saw what?" "Why. . . . perhaps I am mistaken, mis-taken, but I thought you knew and tusted to your likeness to Mr. Mait-land.'' Mait-land.'' Anisty frowned, collecting himself, bewildered. "What are you driving at, anyhow?" he demanded, roughly. "Didn't you see the detectives? 1 should have thought your man would , have warned you. I noticed four loit-ing loit-ing round the entrance, as I came in, 'and feared " "Why didn't you tell me, then?" "I have just told you the reason. 1 supposed you were in your disguise." "That's so." The alarmed expression expres-sion gradually faded, although he , remained re-mained troubled. "I sure am Maitland to the life," he continued with satisfaction. satis-faction. "Even the head-waiter " "And of course," she insinuated, delicately, deli-cately, "you have disposed of the loot?" He shdok his head gloomily. "No time, as yet." Her dismay was evident. "You don't mean to say ?" "In my pocket." "Oh!" .She glanced stealthily around. "In your pocket!" she whispered. whis-pered. "And and if they stopped you " "I am Maitland." "But if they insisted on searching you. . . ." She was round-eyed with apprehension. "That's so!" Her perturbation was infectious. His jaw dropped. "They would find the jewels known to be stolen " "By God!" he cried, savagely. "Dan!" "I I beg your pardon. But . . . what am I to do? You are sure ?" "McClusky himself is on the nearest corner!" "Phew!" he whistled; and stared at her, searchingly, through a lengthening lengthen-ing pause. "Dan . . ." said she at length. "Yes?" "There is a way." "Go on." "Last night, Dan" she raised her glorious eyes to his "last night, I . . . I trusted you." His face hardened ever so slightly; yet when he took thought the tense lines about his eyes and mouth softened. soft-ened. And she drew a deep breath, knowing that she had all but won. "I trusted you," she continued softly soft-ly "Do you know what that means? I trusted you." (TO BE CONTINUED.) he did elaborately and with success, tailing himself humorously: "Hang the expense! Maitland pays." Of which fact the weight in his pocket was assurance. Maitland. . . . Anisty "s thoughts verged off upon an interesting tangent. tan-gent. What was Maitland's motive in arranging this meeting? It was self-evident self-evident that the twain were of one world the gtrl and the man of fashion. fash-ion. But, whatever her right of heritage, her-itage, she had renounced it, declassing herself by yielding to thievish instincts, in-stincts, voluntarily placing herself on the level of Anisty. Where she must remain, for ever. There was comfort in that reflection. He glanced up to find her eyes bent in gravity upon him. She. too, it appeared, ap-peared, had fallen a prey to reverie. I'pon what subject? An absorbing one, doubtless, since it held her abstracted ab-stracted despite her companion's direct, di-rect, unequivocally admiring stare. The odd light was flickering again in the cracksman's glace. Site was then more beautiful than aught that ever he had dreamed of. Such hair as was hc-rs, woven seemingly of dull flames, lambent, witching! And eyes beautiful beauti-ful always, but never more so than at this moment, when filled with sweetly pensive contemplation. . . . Was she reviewing the last 24 hours, dreaming dream-ing of what had passed between her and that silly fool, Maitland? If only Anisty could surmise what they had said to each other, how long they had been acquainted; if only she would give him a hint, a leading word! If he could have read her mind, have seen behind the film of thought that clouded her eyes, one fears Mr. Anisty might have lost appetite for an excellent excel-lent luncheon. For she was studying his hands, her memory harking back to the moment when she had stood beside the safe, holding the bull's-eye. In the blackness of that hour a disk of light shone out luridly against the tapestry of memory. Within its radius appeared two hands, long, supple, strong, immaculately white, graceful and dexterous, as delicate of contour as a woman's, yet lacking nothing of masculine vigor and modeling; hands that wavered against the blackness, fumbling with the shining nickeled disk of a combination lock. . . . The impression had been and remained re-mained one extraordinarily vivid. Could her eyes have deceived her so? "Thoughtful?" She nodded alertly, instantaneously mistress of self; and let her gaze, serious yet half smiling, linger upon his the exact fractional shade of an instant in-stant longer than had been, perhaps, discreet. Then lashes drooped long upon her cheeks, and her color deepened deep-ened all but imperceptibly. The man's breath halted, then came a trace more rapidly than before. He bent forward impulsively. . . . The girl sighed, ever so gently. "I was thoughtful. . . . It's all so strange, you know." His attitude was an eager question. "I mean our meeting that way, last night." Site held his gaze again, momentarily, mo-mentarily, and "Damn the waiter!" quoth savagely Mr. Anisty to his inner man, sitting back to facilitate the service of their meal. The girl placated him with an insignificant insig-nificant remark which led both into a maze of meaningless but infinitely diverting di-verting inconsequences; diverting, at least, to Anisty, who held up his head, giyrhg her back look for look, jest for jest, platitude for platitude (when the waiter was within hearing distance) ; altogether, he felt, acquitting himself very creditably. As for the girl, in the course of the next half or three-quarters of an hour she demonstrated herself conclusively a person of amazing resource, developing de-veloping with admirable ingenuity a campaign planned on the spur of a chance observation. The gentle mannered man-nered and self-sufficient crool was taken captive before he realized It, however willing he may have been. Enmeshed in a hundred uncompre-hended uncompre-hended subtleties, he basked, purring, the while she insinuated herself beneath be-neath his guard and stripped him of his entire armament of cunning, vigilance, vigi-lance, invention, ' suspicion, and distrust. dis-trust. He relinquished them without a sigh, barely conscious of the spoliation. spolia-tion. After all, she was of his trade, herself mired with guilt; she would never dare betray him, the consequences conse-quences to herself would be so dire. Besides, patently almost too much so she admired him. He was hur hero. Had she not more than hinted that such was the case, that his example, ex-ample, his exploits, had fired her to emulation however weakly feminine? . . . He saw her before him, dainty, alluring, yielding, yet leading him on altogether desirable. And so long had he, Anisty, starved for affection! "I am sure you must be dying for a smoke." "Beg pardon!" He awoke abruptly, to find himself twirling the sharp-ribbed sharp-ribbed stem of his empty glass. Ab-s'ractedly Ab-s'ractedly he stared into this, as though seeking there a clue to what t'tey had been talking about. Hazily he understood that they had been drifting close upon the perilous shoals of intimate personalities. What had he told her? What had he not? No matter. It was clearly to be seen that her regard for him had waxed Mther than waned as a result of their conversation. One had but to look into her eyes to be reassured as to that. One did look, breathing heavily. . . . What an ingenuous child it was, to show him her heart so freely! He wondered that this should be so, fseling it none tie less a just and g; aceful tribute to his fascinations.. She repeated her arch query. She was sure he wanted to smoke. Indeed he did If she would Dermit? SYNOPSIS. "Mad" Dan Maitland. on reaching his , Now York bachelor club, met nn attrac- tive young woman at the door. Janitor O'Hagan assured him no one had been within that day. Dan discovered a woman's wom-an's linger prints in dust on Ills desk, ' itlong with a letter from his attorney. Maitland dined with Bannerman. his attorney. at-torney. Dun set out for Greenfields, to pet his family jewels. During his walk to the country seat, he met the young woman in gray, whom he had seen leaving leav-ing his baehelors' club. Pier auto had lM-oken down. He fixed it. By a ruse she "lost" him. Maitland, on reaching home, surprised lady in gray, eracking the safe containing his gems. Site, apparently, took him for a well-known crook. Daniel Anisty. Half-hypnotized. Maitland opened his safe, took therefrom tlte jewels, and gave them to her, first forming a partnership part-nership in crime. The real Dan Anisty. sought by police of the world, appeared on the same mission. Maitiand overcame him. Ho met the girl outside the house and they sped on to New York in her auto. au-to. He had the jewels and she promised to meet him that day. Maitland received a "Mr. Snaith," introducing himself as a detective. To shield the girl in gray, Maitland. about to show him the jewels, jew-els, supposedly lost, was felled by a blow from "Snaith's" cane. The latter proved to be Anisty himself and he secured the gems. Anisty, who was Maitland's double, dou-ble, masqueraded as the latter. The criminal kept Maitland's engagement with the girl in gray. CHAPTER VII. Continued. It was very plain to a deductive reasoner from the girl's attitude toward to-ward him that she had fallen into relations re-lations of uncommon friendliness with this Maitland, young as Anisty believed be-lieved their acquaintance to be. There had plainly been a flirtation wherein where-in lay the explanation of Maitland's forbearance; he had been fascinated by the woman, had not hesitated to ' take Anisty's name (even as Anisty , -was then taking his) in order to prolong pro-long their intimacy. So much the better. Turn about was still fair play. Maitland had sown as Anisty; the real Anisty would reap the harvest. Pretty women interested him deeply, though he saw little enough of them, partly through motives of prudence, partly because of a refinement refine-ment of taste; women of the class of this conquest-by-proxy were out of reach of the enemy of society. That is, under ordinary circumstances. This one, on the contrary, was not; whatever what-ever she was or had been, however successful a crackswoman she might be, her cultivation and breeding were as apparent as her beauty; and quite as attractive. A criminal is necessarily first a gambler, gam-bler, a votary of Chance; and the blind goddess had always been very kind to Mr. Anisty. He felt that here again she was favoring him. Maitland he had eliminated from this girl's life; Maitland had failed to keep his engagement, en-gagement, and so would never again be called upon to play the part of burglar with her interest for incentive and guerdon. Anisty himself could take up where Maitland had left off. ' Easily enough. The difficulties were Insignificant; he had only to play up to Maitland's standard for a while, to be Maitland with all that gentleman's advantages, educational and social, then gradually drop back to his own level aud be himself, Dan Anisty, "Handsome Dan," the professional, the fit mate for the girl. What was She saying? "But you have lunched already!" with an appealing pout. "Indeed, no!" he protested, earnestly. earnest-ly. "I was early conceive my eagerness! eager-ness! and by ill chance a friend 'of mine insisted upon lunching with me.' I had only a cup of coffee and a roll." He motioned to the waiter, calling him "Waiter!" . rather than "Garcon!" intuitively understanding that Maitland Mait-land would never have aired his French in a public place, and that he could not afford the least slip before be-fore a woman as keen as this. "Lay a clean cloth and bring the bill of fare," he demanded, tempering his lordly instincts and adding the "please" that men of Maitland's stamp use to inferiors. "A friend!" tardily echoed the girl when the servant was gone. He laughed lightly, determined to be frank. "A detective, - in point of fact," said he. And he enjoyed her surprise. sur-prise. "You have many such?" "For convenience one tries to have one in each city." "And this?" "Oh, I have him fixed, all right. He confided to me all the latest developments develop-ments and official intentions with regard re-gard to the Maitland arrest." Her eyes danced. "Tell me!" she demanded, Imperious; the emphasis of intimacy irresistible as she bent forward, for-ward, forearms on the cloth, slim white hands clasped with tense impatience, im-patience, eyes seeking his. "Why ... of course Maitland escaped." "No!" "Fact. Scared the butler into un-gagging un-gagging him; then, in a fit of pardonable pardon-able rage, knocked that fool down and dashed out of the window presumably presum-ably in pursuit of us. Up to a late hour he hadn't returned, and police opinion is divided as to whether Maitland Mait-land arrested Anisty. and Anisty got away, or vice versa." "Excellent!" She clasped her hands noiselessly, a gay little gesture. "So, whatever the outcome, one thing is certain: Higgins will presently be seeking another berth." She lifted her brows prettily. "Higgins?" "Hig-gins?" with the rising inflection. "The butler. Didn't you hear ?" Eyes wondering, she moved her head slowly from side to side. "Hear what?" "I fancied that you had waited a moment on the veranda," he finessed. "Oh. I was quite too frightened." He took this for a complete denial. Better and better! He had actually feared she had eavesdropped, however how-ever warrantably; and Maitland's authoritative w-ay with the servants had been too convincingly natural to have deceived a woman of her keen wits. There followed a lull while Anisty was ordering the luncheon: somethins |