mouthful.

She seemed a little reassured.

"Mother will be so dreadfully frightened," she repeated, "I'll give
you everything there is in the house if only you'll go at once."

"I can take everything I want without your giving it me," he
retorted. "How do I know you're telling the truth when you say
there's no one else in the house? How many servants have you?"

"None," she answered. "There's a woman comes every day, but she
doesn't sleep here."

"Do you live all alone here with your mother?" he asked, watching
her keenly.

"There's my stepfather," she answered. "But he's not here tonight."

"Oh, is he away?" Dunn asked, his expression almost one of
disappointment.

The girl, whose first extreme fear had passed and who was watching
him as keenly as he watched her, noticed this manner of
disappointment, and could not help wondering what sort of burglar
it was who was not pleased to hear that the man of the house was
away, and that he had only two women to deal with.

And it appeared to her that he seemed not only disappointed, but
rather at a loss what to do next.