en you went, what
did you take a knife from the counter for?"

"A knife!" Hilda gasped, and she would have fallen to the floor had not
Otto caught her.

"That settles it!" said Casey, in an undertone to O'Rourke. "She's it,
all right. I guess she's told us enough?"

O'Rourke nodded. "The Cap'n'll get the rest out of her when he puts
her through the third degree."

They rose and Casey said, with the roughness of one who is afraid of
his inward impulses to gentleness: "Come, lady, get on your things.
You're going along with us."

"No! No!" she cried in terror, flinging herself into her father's arms.

Brauner blazed up. "What do you mean?" he demanded, facing the
detectives.

"You'll find out soon enough," said Casey in a blustering tone. "The
less fuss you make, the better it'll be for you. She's got to go, and
that's all there is to it."

"This is an outrage," interrupted Otto, rushing between Hilda and the
detectives.

"You daren't take her without telling her why. You can't treat us like
dogs."

"Drop it!" said Casey contemptuously. "Drop it, Dutchy. I guess we
know what we're about."

"Yes--and I know what _I_'m about," exclaimed Otto. "Do you know
Riordan, the district leader here? Well, he's a friend of mine. If we
haven't got any rights you police are bound to respect, thank God,
we've got a 'pull'."

"That's a bluff," said Casey, but his tone was less insolent. "Well, if
you must know, she's wanted for the murder of Carl Feuerstein."

Hilda flung her arms high above her head and sank into a chair and
buried her face. "It's a dream!" she moaned. "Wake me--wake me!"

Otto and Brauner looked each at the other in horror. "Murder!"
whispered Brauner hoarsely. "My Hilda--murder!"

Otto went to Hilda and put his arms about her tightly and kissed her.

"She's got to come," said Casey angrily. "Now, will she go quietly or
shall I call the wagon?"

This threat threw them into a panic. "You'd better go," said Otto in
an undertone to Hilda. "Don't be frightened, dear. You're innocent and
they can't prove you guilty. You're not poor and friendless."

At the pressure of his arms Hilda lifted her face, her eyes shining at
him through her tears. And her heart went out to him as never before.
From that moment it was his, all his. "My love, my dear love," she
said. She went to the closet and took out her hat. She put it on
before the mirror over the mantelpiece. "I'm ready," she sai