to tell you! I'm not
supposed to tell a soul, you know, but you've been such a brick, and
being his own niece and all, I think you've got a _right_ to know, I
really do."

Caroline nodded breathlessly.

"Look here!" he cried, "I'll trust you if your uncle won't. I don't
like the place he told me, much--it isn't safe enough. There's two
thousand dollars' worth of stuff here, counting the--counting
everything, and an old barn's no place for it. See here. You promise
me to stay here for an hour--one hour exactly, by the clock--and
I'll leave this bag at your house for you. Then you can hide it
under your bed, or anywhere you want, till to-morrow, and then you
can manage the rest to suit yourself. How's that?"

"Oh, that would be grand!" she gasped.

"You can just tell your uncle that I saw you were game and I trusted
you, if he wouldn't," he concluded, opening the window, "and I'll
take this to your house in half an hour. Will you promise not to
leave for an hour? We mustn't be seen together, you know, or people
might suspect and then the game'd be up. And will you lock this
window after me and go out the same way you came?"

"Yes, yes! I promise, I promise solemnly!" she assured him, flushed
with importance, "and tell 'em not to open it, will you? They might.
Say it's private for me, will you?"

"All right," he said soberly. "I'm kind o' sorry they went to Yale,"
he added abruptly. "I'd rather--sh! what's that?"

He stood rigidly listening; his eyes rolled back, his hand raised in
warning.

"I don't hear--" she began, but his angry gesture and the furious
whisper that went with it cowed her into a silence as strained as
his own.

For a moment it seemed to Caroline that she heard a faint snap as of
a board released from pressure, but dead quiet followed; she held
her breath with excitement as the man lifted the suit-case over the
ledge, and peering over the balcony stepped out. Suddenly he paused,
one leg over the sill; his eyes rolled back towards the room, his
lips tightened. So terrible, and so despairing his face had turned
that Caroline rushed to the window. Even as she started she heard
quick soft steps in the hall, and pointed to the freedom outside.

"Jump, oh, jump, Mr. Barker!" she whispered in a glow of terror,
"hurry! It _is_ somebody!"

He pointed silently to the ground below, and with her heart pounding
heavily she peered over the sill. Directly below them crouched a
Great Dane, brindled, eno