They looked up at him with startled eyes.

"They know you--rich--" His hands flung themselves. "So rich! They
_make_ you pay--yes--they make everyone pay, I think!" His dark eyes
were on the woman significantly--

"What do you mean?" she said swiftly.

"If you pay--they steal them everywhere--little children." His eyes
seemed to see them at play in the sunshine--and the dark shadows
stealing upon them. The woman's eyes were on his face, breathless.

"They have taken Betty!" she said. It was a broken cry.

"We find her," said Achilles simply. "Then little children play--happy."
He turned to go.

But the woman stayed him. Her face trembled to hold itself steady under
his glance. "I want to save the children, too," she said. "I will be
brave!"

Her husband's startled face was turned to her and she smiled to it
bravely. "Help me, Phil!" she said. She reached out her hands to him and
he took them tenderly. He had not been so near her for years. She was
looking in his face, smiling still, across the white line of her lip. "I
shall help," she said slowly. "But you must not trust me, dear--not too
far.... I want my little girl--"

There were tears in the eyes of the two men--and the Greek went softly