harm?" and went on with her story with all the reckless ease of a
perfectly thoughtless nature.

Miss Hughson abandoned her protest. How could she explain her
reasons for it to one apparently uninitiated in the scandal
associated with their especial clique.

Yes, she left the jewel there; but she locked her door and
quickly, so that they must all have heard her before reaching
their rooms. Then she crossed to the window, which, like all on
this side, opened on a balcony running the length of the house.
She was aware of this balcony, also of the fact that only young
ladies slept in the corridor communicating with it. But she was
not quite sure that this one corridor accommodated them all. If
one of them should room elsewhere! (Miss Driscoll, for instance).
But no! the anxiety displayed for the safety of her jewel
precluded that supposition. Their hostess, if none of the others,
was within access of this room and its open window. But how about
the rest? Perhaps the lights would tell. Eagerly the little
schemer looked forth, and let her glances travel down the full
length of the balcony. Two separate beams of light shot across it
as she looked, and presently another, and, after some waiting, a
fourth. But the fifth failed to appear. This troubled her, but
not seriously. Two of the girls might be sleeping in one bed.

Drawing her shade, she finished her preparations for the night;
then with her kimono on, lifted the pendant and thrust it into a
small box she had taken from her trunk. A curious smile, very
unlike any she had shown to man or woman that day, gave a
sarcastic lift to her lips, as with a slow and thoughtful