ear and vexed
her with its careless jollity. Impatiently she threw herself upon the
other--the left--side, and then--sat bolt upright in bed.

Not a breath of air was stirring. The night was so still she could hear
the soft tinkle of the ships' bells off the Luneta,--could almost hear
the soothing plash of the wavelets on the beach. There was nothing
whatever to cause that huge mahogany door to swing upon its well-oiled
hinges. She heard them close it when they went out; she saw that it was
closed when they were gone, yet, as she turned on her pillow and towards
the faint light through the northwest windows, that door was slowly,
stealthily turning, until at last, wide open, it interposed between her
and the outward light at the front.

Many an evening lately she had lain with hands clasped under the back of
her bonny head looking dreamily out through that big open window, across
the gallery beyond and the open casements in front, watching the twinkle
of the electric lights above the distant ramparts of the old city and
the nearer gleam of the brilliant globes that hung aloft along the west
edge of the Bagumbayan.

Now one-half of that vista was shut off by the massive door, the other
was unobscured, but even as with beating heart, still as a trembling
mouse, she sat and gazed, something glided slowly, stealthily,
noiselessly between her and those betraying lights, something dark, dim,
and human, for the shape was that of a man, a native, as she knew by the
stiffly brushed-up hair above the forehead, the loosely falling shirt--a
native taller than any of their household servants--a native whose
movements were so utterly without sound that Maidie realized on the
instant that here was one of Manila's famous veranda-climbing
house-thieves, and her first thought was for her revolver. She had left
it, totally forgotten, on the little table on the outer gallery.

Even though still weak from her long and serious illness, the brave,
army-bred girl was conscious of no sentiment of fear. To cry out was
sure to bring about the instant escape of the intruder, whereas to
capture him and prevent his getting away with such valuables as he had
probably already laid hands on became instantly her whole ambition. The
side windows were closed by the sliding blinds. Even if he leaped from
them it would be into a narrow court shut in by a ten-foot, spike-topped
stone wall. He had chosen the veranda climber's favorite hour, that
which fo