"You--you know about the crown jewels?" she murmured. Her body seemed to stiffen.
"Very little. They are nothing to me."
"Then you know who I am?"
"No. You will tell me to-morrow."
"Yes, yes,--to-morrow," she whispered, and fell to shivering again.
For some time there was silence. Both were listening intently for sounds in the hall; both were watching the door with unblinking eyes. She leaned closer to whisper in his ear. Their shoulders touched. He wondered if she experienced the same delightful thrill that ran through his body. She told him of the man who watched across the hall from the room supposed to be occupied by Loeb the secretary, and of Sprouse's incomprehensible daring.
"Where is Mr. Curtis?" he asked.
Her breath fanned his cheek, her lips were close to his ear. "There is no Mr. Curtis here. He died four months ago in Florida."
"I suspected as much." He did not press her for further revelations. "Sprouse should be here by this time. It isn't likely that he has met with a mishap. You would have heard the commotion. I must go out there and see if he requires any--"
She clutched his arm frantically. "You shall do nothing of the kind. You shall not--"
"Sh! What do you take me for, Miss Cameron? He may be sorely in need of help. Do you think that I would leave him to God knows what sort of fate? Not much! We undertook this job together and--"
"But he said positively that I was to go in case he did not return in --in fifteen minutes," she begged. "He may have been cut off and was compelled to escape from another--"
"Just the same, I've got to see what has become of--"
"No! No!" She arose with him, dragging at his arm. "Do not be foolhardy. You are not skilled at--"
"There is only one way to stop me, Miss Cameron. If you will come with me now--"
"But I must know whether he secured the--"
"Then let me go. I will find out whether he has succeeded. Stand over there by the window, ready to go if I have to make a run for it."
He was rougher than he realised in wrenching his arm free. She uttered a low moan and covered her face with her hands. Undeterred, he crossed to the door. His hand was on the knob when a door slammed violently somewhere in a distant part of the house.
A hoarse shout of alarm rang out, and then the rush of heavy feet over thickly carpeted floors.
Barnes acted with lightning swiftness. He sprang to the open window, half-carrying, half-dragging the girl with him.