The Huttig news., 1909-01-23

time, while he pranced and bridled and preened himself under her eyes, blinded to his own idiocy by the flame of sudden infatuation-how she must have Iaughedl
 Undoubtedly she had laughed: and measuring his depth--or his shallow ness-had determined to use him to her ends. Why not? It had been her business. her professional duty. to make use of him in order to accom-. plish her plundering. And because she had not dared to ask him for the jewels when he left her in the morn ing. she had naturally returned in the evening to regain them, very con fdent, doubtless, that even if surprised a second time, she would get off scot free. Unfortunately for her. this fel- low Anisty had interfered. Maitland presumed cynically that he ought to be grateful to Anisty The unaccount- able scoundrel Why had he returned?
 How the girl had contrived to es- cape was. of course. more easy to un. derstand. Maitland recalled that sud. den chatter of hoofs in the street, and he had only to make trip to the window to verify his suspicion that the cab was gone She had simply overheard his concluding remarks to i the cabby. and taken pardona Dle ad. vantage of them. Maitland had footed the bill. She was welcome to that however. He. Maitland was we'll rid : of the whole damnabe business. Yes, jewels and all!
 What were the jewels to him? Be. yond their sentimental associations, he did not hold them greatly in prize Of course. since they had been worn by his mother. he would spare no ex= pense or effort to trace and re-collect them, for that dim sainted memory's sake. But in this case at least the traditional usage of the Maitlands would never be carried out. It had been faithfully observed when, after his mothers death. the stones had been removed from their settings and stored away; but now they would never be reset, even should he con. triye to reassemble them. to adorn the bride of the Maitland heir. For he would never marry. Of course not.
 Maitland was young enough to be lieee, and to extract melancholy sat ifeation from, this
 Puzzled and saddened, his mind harked back forever to that carking question: Why had she returned? What had brought her back to the fiat? If she and Anisty were confed- crates, as one was inclined at times to believe-if such were the case. Anisty had the jewels, and there was nothing else of any particular value so per sistently to entice such expert and ac- complished burglars back to his fiat. What else had they required of him His peace of mind was nothing that they could turn into cash; and they seemed to have reaved him of nothing else
 But they had that; unquestionably they had taken that.
 And still the riddle haunted him: Why had she come back that night? And, whatever her reason, had she come in Anisty's company. or alone One minute 1t seemed patent beyond dispute that the girl and the great plunderer were hand-in- glove. the next minute Maitland was positively as sured that their recent meeting had been altogether an accident From what he had heard over the telephone, he had believed them to be quarreling, although at the time he had assigned to O'Hagan the masculine side of the dispute. But certainly there must have arisen some difference of opin- ion between Anisty and the girl to have drawn from her that frantic neg ative Maitland had heard. to have been responsible for the overturning of the chair-an accident that seemed to argue something in the nature of physical struggle; the chair itself lay upon its side, mute witness to a hasty and careless movement on somebody's part.
 But it was all inexplieable Event ually Ma tland shook his head, to sig nifty that he gave it up. There was but one thing to do-to put it out of mind He would read bit, compose himself, go to bed,
 Prelim mary to doing so, he would  take steps to insure the flat against further burglarizing. for that night at least. The draught moving through the hall stirred the portiere and re minded him that the window in the trunkroom was still open, an invita- tion to any enterprising sneak-thief or second story man. So Maitland went to close and make it fast.
 As he shut down the window-sash and clamped the catch he trod on something soft and yielding Wonder ing, he stopped and picked it up, and carried it back to the light. It proved to be the girls handbag.
 Now" admitted Maitland in tone of absolute candor, T am damned. How in the dickens did this thing get there, anyway? What was she doing in my trunk closet?'
 Was it possible that she had fol. lowed Anisty out of the fiat by that route? A very much mystified young man sat himself down again in front of his desk, and turned the bag over , and ovor in hfc hopdc 1raaplv cor,,fin