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Show IHt. SOBRi-rtERILLCO. jfi tl V Vtr , I Pf Vff ' M 1mi,"i',-iT"ii.T'y.''iii nmn 3 fij . 'jit lV 'S r & -iyiwi.i.' iyyi'.w. ) And a Small White Hand Gestured Significantly Toward the Collection of Burglar's Tools. 1 SYNOPSIS. 'Mad'' Dan Maitland, on reaching his New York bachelor club, met an attractive 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 finger prints in dust on his desk, along with a letter from his attorney. Maitland dined with Bannerman. his attorney. at-torney. Dan set out for Greenfields, to get 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 bachelors' club. Her auto had broken down. He fixed it. By a ruse she "loet" him. Maitland, on reaching home, aurprised lady in gray, cracking the safe containing his gems. She, apparently, .m took him for a well-known crook, Daniel ' Anisty. CHAPTER III. Continued. Did he catch a gleam of admiration In the eyes behind the goggles? "Now, if ever they get hold of my portrait and print . . . Wei'!" sighed the girl wickedly, lifting slim, bare fingers in affected concern to the mass of ruddy hair, "in that event I suppose I shall have to become a natural blonde!" Her humor, her splendid fearlessness, fearless-ness, the lightness of her tone, combined com-bined with the half-laughing, half-serious look that she swept up at him, to ease the tension of his emotions. For the first time since entering the room, he smiled; then in silence for a time regarded her steadfastly, thinking. So he resembled this burglar, Anisty, Anis-ty, strongly enough to be mistaken for him eh? Plainly enough the girl believed be-lieved him to be Anisty. . . . W7ell, and why not? Why shouldn't he be Anisty for the time being, if it suited his purpose so to masquerade? It might possibly suit his purpose. He thought his position one uncommonly uncommon-ly difficult. As Maitland, he had on his hands a female thief, a hardened character, char-acter, a common malefactor (strange that he got so little relish of the terms!), caught red-handed; as Maitland, Mait-land, his duty was to hand her over to the law, to be dealt with as what she was. Yet, even while these considerations consid-erations were urging themselves upon him, he knew his eyes appraised her with open admiration and interest. She stood before him, slight, delicate, pretty, pret-ty, appealing in her ingenuous candor; and at his mercy. How could he bring himself to. deal with her as he might with well, Anisty himself? She was a woman, he a gentleman. As Anisty, however if he chose to assume that expert's identity for the nonce he would be placed at once on a plane of equality with the girl; from a fellow of her craft she could hardly refuse attentions. As Anisty, he would put himself in a position to earn her friendship, to gain perhaps her confidence, con-fidence, to learn something of her necessities, to aid and protect her from the consequences of her misdeeds; possibly to sum up to divert her footsteps to the paths of a calling less hazardous and more honorable. Worthy ambition to reform a burglar! bur-glar! Maitland regained something of his lost self-esteem, applauding himself him-self for entertaining a motive so laudable. And he chose his course, for better or worse, in these few seconds. Thereby proving his incontestable title to the name and repute of Mad Maitland. Mait-land. His face lightened; his manner changed; he assumed with avidity the role for which -she had cast him and v which he stood so ready to accept and ct. 'VWell and good," he conceded with an air. "I suppose I may as well own up " "Oh, I know you," she assured him, with a little, confident shake of her head. "There's no deceiving me. But." and her smile became rueful, "if only you'd waited ten minutes more! Of course I recognized you from the first down there by the river; and knew very well what was your lay; you gave yourself away completely by mentioning the distance from the river to the Manor. And I did so want to get ahead of you on this job! What a feather in one's cap, to have forestalled fore-stalled Dan Anisty! . . . But hadn't you belter he a little careful with those lights? You seem to forget that there areservants in the house. Really, you know, I find you most romantically ro-mantically audacious, Mr. Anisty quite in keeping with your reputation." ' "You overwhelm me," he murmured. "Believe me, I have little conceit in my fame, such as it is." And, crossing to the windows, he looked the heavy-velvet heavy-velvet hangings and lot them fall together, to-gether, drawing thoir edges close so that no ray of light might escape. She watched him with interest. "You seem well acquainted here." "Of course. Any mau of imagination imagina-tion is at pains to study every house he enters. I have a map of the premises prem-ises house and grounds here." He indicated his forehead with a long forefinger. "Quite right, too and worth one's ' while. If rumor is to be believed, you have ordinarily more than your labor for your pains. You have taught me something already. . . . Ah, well!" she sighed, "1 suppose- I may as we'.l acknowledge my inferiority as neophyte neo-phyte to hierophant. Master!" Slie courtesied low. "I beg you proceed and let thy cheela profit through observation!" obser-vation!" And-a small white hand ges tured signficantly toward the collection collec-tion of burglar's tools drills fcjd a gibe she tried to pass off her astonishment. aston-ishment. "The thief apologizes to the thief?" ''Unkind!" Briefly hesitant, with an impulsive gesture she flung out a generous hand. "You're right; I was unkind. Forgive For-give me. Won't you shake hands? I . . . I do want to be a good comrade, com-rade, since it has pleased Fate to throw us together like this, so so oddly." Her tone was almost plaintive; plain-tive; unquestionably it was appealing. Maitland was curiously moved by the touch of the slim, cool fingers that lay in his palm. Not unpleasantly. He frowned in perplexity, unable to analyze ana-lyze the sensation. "You're not angry?" she asked. "No but but " "Yes?" "Why do you do this, little woman? Why do you stoop to this this trade of yo of ours? Why sully your hands and not only your hands imperil your good name, to say nothing of your liberty?" She drew her hand away quickly, interrupting in-terrupting him with a laugh that rang true as a coin new from the mint, honest hon-est and genuine. "And this," she cried, "this from Dan Anisty! Positively, sir, you are delightful! You grow more dangerously danger-ously original every minute! Your scruples, your consideration, your sympathythey sym-pathythey are touching in you!" She wagged her head daintily in pretense pre-tense of disapprobation. "But shall I tell you?" more seriously, doubtfully. "I think I shall .i . . truly. I do this sort of thing, since you must know, because imprimis, because I like it. Indeed and I do! I like the danger, the excitement, the exercise of cunning and and I like the rewards, too. Besides " . The corners of her adorable moutb drooped ever so slightly. "Besides V "Why . . . But this is not business! busi-ness! We must hurry. Will you, or shall I?" A crisis had been passed; Maitland understood that he must wait until a more favorable time to renew his importunities. "I will," he said, dropping on his knees by the safe. "In my lady's service!" "Not at all," she interposed. ''I insist. in-sist. The job is now yours; yours must be the profits." "Then I wash my hands of the whole affair," he slated in accents of finality. "I refuse. I shall go, and you can do as you will blunder on," scornfully, "with your nitroglycerin, your rags, and drills and and rouse the entire countryside. If you will." ;."Ah, but" "Will you accept my aid?" "On condii.jns, only," she stipulated. "Halvers?" He shook his head. "Half shares, or not at all!" She was firm. "A partnership?" This educed a moue of doubt, with: "I'm not worthy the honor." "But," he promised rashly, "I can save you oh, heaps of trouble in other ah lays." She shrugged helplessly. "If I must then I do accept. We are partners, Dan Anisty and I!" He nodded mute satisfaction, brushed the tools out of his way, and bent an attentive ear to the combination. The girl swept across the room, and there followed a click simultaneous with the total extinction of light. Startled, "Why ?" he demanded. "The risk," she replied. "We have been frightfully careless and thoughtless." thought-less." Helplessly Maitland twirled the combination com-bination dial; without the light he was wholly at a loss. But a breath later skirts rustled near him; the slide of the bull's-eye was jerked back, and a circle of illumination thrown upon the lock. He bent his head again, pretending pretend-ing to listen to the fall of the tumblers tum-blers as the dial was turned, but in point of fact covertly watching the letters and figures upon it. The room grew very silent, sa for the faintly regular respiration of the girl who bent near his shoulder. Her breath was fragrant upon his cheek. The consciousness of her propinquit-almost propinquit-almost stifled him. . . . One fearr that Maitland prolonged the counterfeit counter-feit study of the combination unnecessarily. unneces-sarily. Notwithstanding this, she seemed amazed by the ease with which he solved it. "Wonderful!" she applauded, ap-plauded, whispering, as the heavy door swung outward without a jar. "Hush!" he cautiontd her. In his veins that night madness was running rif t, swaying him at its will. With never a doubt, never a thought of hesitancy, he forged ahead, willfully blind to consequences. On the face of it he was playing a fool's part; he knew it; the truth is simply that he could not have done other than as he ; did. Consciously he believed himself j to be merely testing the girl; subeon- sciously he was plastic in the grip o! an emotion stronger than he mol.-t ; clay upon the potter's whirling wheel (T(. BiC COXTtXTTKn 1 chisels, skeleton keys, putty, and all neatly displayed upon the rug before the massive safe. "You mean that you wish me to crack this safe for you?" he inquired, with inward consternation. "Not for me. Disappointment I admit ad-mit is mine; but not for the loss I sustain. sus-tain. In the presence of the master I am content to stand humbly to one side, as befits one of my lowly state in in the ranks of our profession. I resign, re-sign, I abdicate in your favor; claiming claim-ing nothing by right of priority." "You are too generous," he mumbled, mum-bled, confused by her thinly veiled ridicule. rid-icule. "Not at all," she replied briskly. "I am entirely serious. My loss of today to-day will prove my gain to-morrow. I look for incalculable benefit through study of your methods. My own, I confess," with a contemptuous toss of her head toward the burglar's kit, "are clumsy, antiquated, out of date. . . . But then, I'm only an amateur." ama-teur." ''Oh, but a woman" he began to apologize on her behalf. "Oh, but a woman!" she rapped out, smartly. "I wish you to understand that this woman, at least,- is no mean " And she hesitated. "Thief?" he supplied, crudely. "Yes, thief! We're two of a feather, at that." "True enough. . . . But you were first in the field; I fail to see why I should reap any reward for tardiness. The spoils must be yours." It was a test; Maitland watched her keenly, fascinated by the subtlety of the game. "But I refuse, Mr. Anisty positively refuse to go to work while you stand aside and and l?ugh." Pride! He stared, openly amazed, at this bewilderingly feminine bundle of Inconsistencies. With each facet of her character discovered to him, minute min-ute by minute, the study of her became be-came to him the more engrossing. He drew nearer, eyes speculative. "I will agree," he said, slowly, "to crack the safe, but upon conditions." She drew back imperceptibly, amused, but asserting her dignity. "Yes?" she led him on, though in no accent of encouragement. "Hack there, in the river," he drawled deliberately, forcing the pace, "I found you beautiful." She flushed, lip curling. "And, back there, in the river,. I thought you a gentleman! " "Although a burglar?" "A gentleman for all that!" "I promise you I mean no harm," he prefaced. "But don't you see how I am putting myself in your power? Every moment you know me better, while I have not yet even looked into your face with the light full upon it. Honor among thieves, little woman!" She chose to ignore the intimate note in his voice. "You're wasting time." she hinted, crisply. "I am aware of that fact. Permit mj to remind you that- you are helping help-ing me to waste it. I will not go ahead until I have seen your face. It is simply-"" an ordinary precaution." ,"0h, if it's a matter of business " i "Self-preservation," he corrected, with magnificent gravity. She hesitated but a moment longer, then with a quick gesture removed her mask. Maitland's breath came fast as he bent forward, peering into her face; though he schooled his own features fea-tures to an expression of intent and inoffensive studfousness,' he feared the loud thumping of his heart would betray be-tray him. As he looked it became evident evi-dent that the vitchery of moonlight had. not served to exaggerate the sensitive, sen-sitive, the almost miniature, beauty of her. If anything, its charm was greater there in the full glare of the electric chandelier, as she faced him, giving him glance for glance, quite undismayed un-dismayed by the intentness of his scrutiny. In the clear light her eyes shone lustrous, pools of tawny flame; her hair showed itself of a rich and luminous coppery hue, spun to immeasurable im-measurable fineness; a faint color burned in her cheeks, but in contrast her forehead' was as snow the pure, white, close-grained skin that is the heritage of red-headed women the world over, and their chiefest charm as well; while her lips As for her lips, the most coherent statement to be extracted from Mr. Maitland is to the effect that they w:ere altogether desirable, from the very first. The hauteur of her pose, the sympathy sym-pathy and laughter that lurked in her mouth, the manifest breeding in the delicate modeling of her nostrils, and the firm, straight arch of her nose, the astonishing allurement of her eyes, combined with their spirited womanliness womanli-ness these, while they completed the conquest of the young man, abashed him. He found himself of a sudden endowed with a painful appreciation appre-ciation of his own imperfections, the littleness of his ego, the inherent coarseness of his masculine fiber, the poor futility of his ways,' contrasted with her perfections. He felt as if rebuked re-buked for some unwarrantable presumption. pre-sumption. . . . For he had looked into eyes that were windows of a soul; and the soul was that of a child, unsullied un-sullied and immaculate. You may smile; but as for Maitland, he deemed it no laughing matter. From that moment his perception was clear that, whatever she might claim to be. however damning the circumstances in which she appeared to him, there was no evil in her. But what he did not know, and did not even guess, was that, from the same instant, his being was in bondage bond-age to her will. So Love comes, strangely masked. CHAPTER IV. i Midsummer Night's Madness. At length, awed and not a little ! shamefaced, "I beg your pardon," he stammered, wretchedly. "For what?" she demanded, quickly, i head up and eyes alight. "For insisting. It wasn't ah j courteous. I'm sorry." It was her turn now to woi-.der; delicacy of perception such as this was not ordinarily looked for in the I person of a burglar. Viih a laugh end |