before, by an odd and romantic chance--a clue followed through mazes of
secrecy till the treasure was at last unearthed.

"'Even' the Maltese cross?" Mrs. Gereth rose as she sharply echoed the
words. "My dear child, you don't suppose I'd have sacrificed _that_! For
what in the world would you have taken me?"

"A _bibelot_ the more or the less," Fleda said, "could have made little
difference in this grand general view of you. I take you simply for the
greatest of all conjurers. You've operated with a quickness--and with a
quietness!" Her voice trembled a little as she spoke, for the plain
meaning of her words was that what her friend had achieved belonged to
the class of operation essentially involving the protection of darkness.
Fleda felt she really could say nothing at all if she couldn't say that
she knew what the danger had been. She completed her thought by a
resolute and perfectly candid question: "How in the world did you get
off with them?"

Mrs. Gereth confessed to the fact of danger with a cynicism that
surprised the girl. "By calculating, by choosing my time. I _was_ quiet,
and I _was_ quick. I manoeuvred; then at the last rushed!" Fleda drew
a long breath: she saw in the poor woman something much better than
sophistical ease, a crude elation that was a comparatively simple state
to deal with. Her elation, it was true, was not so much from what she
had done as from the way she had done it--by as brilliant a stroke as
any commemorated in the annals of crime. "I succeeded because I had
thought it all out and left nothing to chance: the whole process was
organized in advance, so that the mere carrying it into effect took but
a few hours. It was largely a matter of money: oh, I was horribly
extravagant--I had to turn on so many people. But they were all to be
had--a little army of workers, the packers, the porters, the helpers of
every sort, the men with the mighty vans. It was a question of arranging
in Tottenham Court Road and of paying the price. I haven't paid it yet;
there'll be a horrid bill; but at least the thing's done! Expedition
pure and simple was the essence of the bargain. 'I can give you two
days,' I said; 'I can't give you another second.' They undertook the
job, and the two days saw them through. The people came down on a
Tuesday morning; they were off on the Thursday. I admit that some of
them worked all Wednesday night. I had thought it all out; I stood over
them; I showed them how. Yes, I c