turn the collar of his heavy overcoat high up about his face and draw
his hat low over his brows, and the second was that he was only to be
permitted to observe the dancing from behind the curtain of the little
recess at the end of the hall which served Pearl as a dressing room. He
might gaze his fill through the peep-hole there, but under no
circumstances was he to be seen in the body of the hall. But these
conditions, as Gallito pointed out, were entirely dependent on Pearl. It
was a question whether she would tolerate José for a whole evening in
her dressing room.

At first she flatly refused to do so and turned a persistently deaf ear
to José's pleading. She had to slip out of one frock and into another at
least three times. There would not be room with José sitting there.

"But, dear Señorita, I will not be sitting there," he cried. "When the
moment comes that you change your frock I will be standing with my face
to the wall and my eyes covered with my hands."

"I should hope so," murmured Mrs. Thomas, who was present.

But Pearl had another reason for not wishing to be alone with José upon
this occasion. She meant to wear her emeralds, and she was not so
anxious that the light-fingered bandit should have so near a view of
them. When she mentioned this to Bob Flick and her father, however, they
laughed at her fears. Not that they trusted José, but, as they pointed
out, no matter how much he might be tempted by the jewels, there was no
possible way for him to escape with them. He was clever enough to
realize this, therefore his resistance to temptation under trying
circumstances might be taken for granted. So Pearl at last gave her
reluctant consent.