a burglar went all through our house and carried off his clothes and he
never knew it until the next morning. But you'll have to be careful at Mr.
Talbot's, for he suffers horribly from insomnia."

"They got any o' them fancy burglar alarms?" asked The Hopper as he
concluded his examination of her sketches.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you about that!" she cried contritely. "There's
nothing of the kind at Mr. Talbot's, but at papa's there's a switch in
the living-room, right back of a bust--a white marble thing on a pedestal.
You turn it off _there_. Half the time papa forgets to switch it on before
he goes to bed. And another thing--be careful about stumbling over that
bearskin rug in the hall. People are always sticking their feet into its
jaws."

"I'll look out for ut, miss."

Burglar alarms and the jaws of wild beasts were not inviting hazards. The
programme she outlined so light-heartedly was full of complexities. It was
almost pathetic that any one could so cheerfully and irresponsibly suggest
the perpetration of a crime. The terms she used in describing the loot he
was to filch were much stranger to him than Chinese, but it was fairly
clear that at the Talbot house he was to steal a blue-and-white thing and
at the Wilton's a red one. The form and size of these articles she
illustrated with graceful gestures.

"If I thought you were likely to make a mistake I'd--I'd go with you!" she
declared.

"Oh, no, miss; ye couldn't do that! I guess I can do ut fer ye. Ut's jes'
a _leetle_ ticklish. I reckon ef yer pa wuz to nab me ut'd go hard with
me."

"I wouldn't let him be hard on you," she replied earnestly. "And now I
haven't said anything about a--a--about what we will call a _reward_ for
bringing me these porcelains. I shall expect to pay you; I couldn't think
of taking up your time, you know, for nothing!"

"Lor', miss, I couldn't take nothin' at all fer doin' ut! Ye see ut wuz
sort of accidental our meetin', and besides, I ain't no
housebreaker--not, as ye may say, reg'ler. I'll be glad to do ut fer ye,
miss, an' ye can rely on me doin' my best fer ye. Ye've treated me right,
miss, an' I ain't a-goin' t' fergit ut!"

The Hopper spoke with feeling. Shaver's mother had, albeit at the pistol
point, confided her most intimate domestic affairs to him. He realized,
without finding just these words for it, that she had in effect decorated
him with the symbol of her order of knighthood and he had every
honorable--or