at the gate.

Caught? Not much. Not yet. I threw open the glass doors and walked
out into the garden.

"Miss--Omar--I wonder if it would be Miss Omar?"

You bet I didn't take time to see who it was talking before I answered.
Of course I was Miss Omar. I was Miss Anybody that had a right to wear
skirts and be inside those blessed gates.

"Ah--h! I fancied you might be. I've been expecting you."

It was a lazy, low voice with a laugh in it, and it came from a wheeled
chair, where a young man lay. Sallow he was and slim and long, and
helpless--you could see that by his white hanging hands. But his
voice--it was what a woman's voice would be if she were a man. It made
you perk up and pretend to be somewhere near its level. It fitted his
soft, black clothes and his fine, clean face. It meant silks and
velvets and--

Oh, all right, Tommy Dorgan, if you're going to get jealous of a voice!

"Excuse me, Mr. Latimer." The cop came in as he spoke, Moriway
following; the rest of the hounds hung about. "There's a thieving
bell-boy from the hotel that's somewhere in your grounds. Can I come
in and get him?"

"In here, Sergeant? Aren't you mistaken?"

"No; Mr. Moriway here saw him jump the gate not five minutes since."

"Strange, and I here all the time! I may have dozed of, though.
Certainly--certainly. Look for the little rascal. What's he stolen?
Diamonds! Tut! tut! Enterprising, isn't he? ... Miss Omar, won't
you kindly reach the bell yonder--no, on the table; that's it--and ring
for some one to take the officer about?"

I rang.

Do you know what happened? An electric light strung on the tree above
the table shone out, and there I stood under it with Moriway's eyes
full upon me.

"Great--!" he began.

"Just ring again--" Mr. Latimer's voice came soft as silk.

My fingers trembled so, the bell clattered out of them and fell
jangling to the ground. But it rang. And the light above me went out
like magic. I fell back into a garden chair.

"I beg your pardon, Mr.--was Moriway the name?--I must have interrupted
you, but my eyes are troubling me this evening, and I can't bear the
light. Miss Omar, I thought the housekeeper had instructed you: one
ring means lights, two mean I want Burnett. Here he comes... Burnett,
take Sergeant Mulhill through the place. He's looking for a thief.
You will accompany the Sergeant, Mr.--Moriway?"

"Thank you--no. If you don't mind, I'll wait out here."