er of gems in her hand.

"I see," he smiled, "that you are ahead of me again. Well, it is the
fortune of war, Miss Gray. I do not complain."

She found her voice at last; and, quick as a flash, as he advanced a
step, she dropped the necklace into her pocket, and her revolver was in
her hand.

"W--what are you doing here?" she whispered.

He shrugged his shoulders expressively.

"I take it that we are both in the same boat," he said pleasantly.

"In the same boat?" she echoed dully. She remembered his conversation
with her a few hours ago, when he had believed he was talking to Gypsy
Nan. And now he stood before her for the second time a self-confessed
thief. In the same boat-fellow-thieves! A certain cold composure came to
her. "You mean you came to steal this necklace? Well, you shall not have
it! And, furthermore, you have no right to class me with yourself as a
thief."

He had a whimsical and very engaging smile. His eyebrows lifted.

"Miss Gray perhaps forgets last night," he suggested.

"No, I do not forget last night," she said slowly, "And I do not forget
that I owe you very much for what you did. And that is one reason why I
warn you at once that, as far as the necklace is concerned, it will
do you no good to build any hopes on the supposition that we are
fellow-thieves, and that I am likely either to part with it, or, through
gratitude, share it. In spite of appearances last night, I was not a
thief."

"And to-night, Miss Gray--in spite of appearances?" he challenged.

He was regarding her with eyes that, while they appraised shrewdly,
held a lurking hint of irony in their depths. And somehow, suddenly,
self-proclaimed crook though she held him to be, she found herself
seized with an absurd, unreasonable, but nevertheless passionate, desire
to make good her words.

"Yes, and to-night, too!" she asserted. "I did not steal this necklace.
I--never mind how--I--I got it. It was planned to put the theft on an
innocent man's shoulders. I was trying to thwart that plan. Whether you
believe me or not, I did not come here to steal the necklace; I came
here to return it."

"Quite so! Of course!" acknowledged the Adventurer softly. "I am afraid
I interrupted you, then, in the act of returning it. Might I suggest,
therefore, Miss Gray, that as it's a bit dangerous to linger around here
unnecessarily, you carry out your intentions with all possible haste,
and get away."

"And you?" she queried evenly.

"