I supposed you were wise and only afraid that I'd give you what you
deserve.... If they had sent any one but that stupid ass, Hickey, to nab
me, I'd be in the cooler now. As it was, you kindly selected the very best
kind of a house for my purpose; I went straight up to the roofs and out
through a building round the corner...."

But the shock of discovery, with its attendant revulsion of feeling, had
been too much for her. She collapsed suddenly in the chair, eyes half
closed, face pallid as a mask of death.

Anisty regarded her in silence for a meditative instant, then, taking up
the lamp, strode down the hall to the pantry, returning presently with a
glass brimming with an amber-tinted, effervescent liquid.

"Champagne," he announced, licking his lips. "Wish I had Maitland's means
to gratify my palate. He knows good wine.... Here, my dear, gulp this
down," placing the glass to the girl's lips and raising her head that she
might swallow without strangling.

As it was, she choked and gasped, but after a moment began to show some
signs of having benefited by the draught, a faint color dawning in her
cheeks.

"That's some better," commended the burglar, not unkindly. "Now, if you
please, we'll stop talking pretty and get down to brass tacks. Buck up,
now, and answer my questions. And don't be afraid; I'm holding no great
grudge for what you did this afternoon. I appreciate pluck and grit as much
as anybody, I guess, though I do think you ran it pretty close, peaching on
a pal after you'd lifted the jewels. By the way, why did you do it?"