.

"Why, it's my Black Imp!" Amy cried in surprise. "You've reproduced it
in every detail!"

Hanley Cron was taken aback at the unexpected exposure, but he quickly
regained his usual nonchalance.

"I rather liked the figure," he said inadequately. "That was why I
copied it. I had no other reason."

"You didn't like the Black Imp well enough to award it a prize," Amy
cried indignantly. "You have a very good reason for reproducing the
statue--perhaps you intend to put it to commercial use!"

"You flatter yourself, Miss Coulter. The statue has no value
commercially or otherwise."

"You have no right to copy it," Amy insisted, with increasing anger.
"The Black Imp is solely my work."

Before either Hanley Cron or Penny guessed the girl's intention, she
darted across the room and snatched the little figure from the pedestal.

"What are you doing?" the sculptor demanded harshly.

"I'm going to take the Black Imp with me. You've no right to it!"

"Drop that!"

Furiously, Cron caught the girl by the wrist, giving it a cruel wrench.
Amy would not relinquish the mass of wet clay and Penny hastened to
assist her. In the midst of the struggle, the door opened and a
policeman looked in.

"What's going on here?"

Hanley Cron's hand fell from Amy's arm. The girls expected him to make
a direct charge against them but he seemed confused by the appearance
of the policeman.

"We're not having any trouble, officer," he muttered. "Just a little
friendly argument about some of my work."

"Friendly, eh?" the policeman questioned. He gazed inquiringly at
Penny and Amy.

"It was really nothing," the latter said hurriedly. "We merely
disagreed about a statue."

The girls edged toward the door, Amy still clutching the Black Imp in
her hands. They both confidently expected that Cron would bring up the
matter of the stolen painting, but for some reason which they could not
fathom, he stood mute.

The policeman, however, blocked the exit.

"Just a minute," he said. "What's this bag doing here?" He picked up
the beaded purse which had been dropped on the table.

Penny explained where Amy had found it and told of her own attempt to
capture the jewel thief.

"The man didn't come into my studio," Cron interposed. "These girls
are so excited they don't know what they saw."

"The thief came up the fire escape," Penny insisted. "I admit I may
have been mistaken as to the window he entered."

"You were," Cron s