operty to its rightful owner without an instant's loss of time. And
with this thought came another, more alarming: in a brace of minutes
the thieves would discover that the necklace had been abstracted from
the hat and--men of such boldness wouldn't hesitate about turning back
to run her down and take their booty by force.

It was this consideration that bade her refrain from crying out.
Conceivably, if she did raise an alarm, help might be longer in coming
than the taxicab in returning. They had the hat and bandbox, and were
welcome to them, for all of her, as long as she retained the real
valuables. Her only chance lay in instant and secret flight, in hiding
herself away in the gloomy fastnesses of these unknown pleasure-grounds,
so securely that they might not find her.

She stood alone in the middle of a broad road. There was nobody in
sight, whichever way she looked. On one hand a wide asphalt path ran
parallel with the drive; on the other lay a darksome hedge of trees and
shrubbery. She hesitated not two seconds over her choice, and in a third
was struggling and forcing a way through the undergrowth and beneath the
low and spreading branches whose shadows cloaked her with a friendly
curtain of blackness.

Beyond--she was not long in winning through--lay a broad meadow,
glimmering faintly in the glow of light reflected from the bosoms of
low, slow-moving clouds. A line of trees bordered it at a considerable
distance; beneath them were visible patches of asphalt walk, shining
coldly under electric arcs.

Having absolutely no notion whatever of where she was in the Park, after
some little hesitation she decided against attempting to cross the lawn
and turned instead, at random, to her right, stumbling away in the
kindly penumbra of trees.

She thanked her stars that she had chosen to wear this dark,
short-skirted suit that gave her so much freedom of action and at the
same time blended so well with the shadows wherein she must skulk....

Before many minutes she received confirmation of her fears in the drone
of a distant motor humming in the stillness and gaining volume with
every beat of her heart. Presently it was strident and near at hand; and
then, standing like a frozen thing, not daring to stir (indeed, half
petrified with fear) she saw the marauding taxicab wheel slowly past,
the chauffeur scrutinising one side of the way, the man in the grey
duster standing up in the body and holding the door half open,