orrow one whom he
loves better than he loves himself. "I tell you the whole truth," he
said, "on one condition. One condition, mind you, Madame--and that
condition must be kept. It is that she--my Anna--shall never be
disturbed, annoyed--"

The woman shook her head with emphasis. Self-righteous and indignant,
feeling that her confidence had been betrayed as well as her ring
stolen, she was determined not to let the guilty girl escape. "I
cannot promise that," she said with emphasis, "for she is guilty."

The German raised himself to his full height and stood there towering
over her, the very effigy of sublime fatherhood. "She is _not_
guilty!" he exclaimed. "No; it is I--I--I!"

"You!" Mrs. Vanderlyn fell back a step or two, staring at him in
amazement. Could the man be crazy? This unexpected turn of the affair
brought a gasp of sheer astonishment from her.

From behind the door Herr Kreutzer thought he heard, again, a sound as
of swift breath drawn through tight shut teeth, but again he was not
sure--nor did it matter. When, an instant later, the door softly
opened, then as softly closed and left M'riar there in the room with
them, standing, for a second, with her back against the portal which
she had just come through, neither of them glanced at her. The
situation which involved them was too tense, too fiercely was their
full attention focussed upon one another. They scarcely noted that she
passed as she went through the room and out the other door.

"Yes," said Herr Kreutzer, "it is I who took the ring."

CHAPTER IX

[Illustration: "She is not guilty! No; it is I--I--I!"]

"_You_ who took the ring!" said the astonished woman. "How utterly
absurd! You have not been in my house." She was so amazed by his
confession, which, she knew, could not have the least foundation,
that, for the moment, she forgot to pose, either as an injured
benefactress or as an avenging nemesis.

Now Herr Kreutzer smiled. Having determined on the sacrifice, he was
delighted by this first error in her argument. "Yes, Madame," he said,
quite truthfully, "I _have_ been at your house. I called while you
were driving. M'riar will tell you. She went with me. I called there
to tell Anna that I should expect her here, this afternoon. A servant
showed me to her room--showed M'riar and me both to her room. I can
prove all of this by M'riar--by your own servants, Madame. I waited
for her, for a time, there in her room, and, as I walked