The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-03-31
''THE WHITE MOLL"
 FRANK L. PACKARD Appearing every day in serial form in the Magazine Section of The Times
FRANK l.. PACKARD
(Continued from Yesterday

pefS on the floor near the safe She began to search carefully amongst theln- She smiled a little curiousIy as she came across the p1ush-lined jewellers case that had contained the necklace, and which had evidently been contemptuously discarded by the Cricket and his eonfederates! but it tcok her longer to find the paper for Whlch she was searching. And then Sne came upon it-a greaSe-sreared advertisement for some automobile appliances, a weil-defined greasy fin Ser-prtnt at one edge-and thrust the paper into her pocket.
 And now suddenly her heartbeat began to quicken again until it's humping became tumultuous. She was ready now.
 She looked around her, using the flashhght, and her eyes rested ap- pra1singly on one of the great clusters or shields and arms that hung low down on the wall between the win dow and the door by which she had entered. Yes that would do. Her lips frightened. It would have been so easy if there had not been that cash to account for! She could re- place the necklace, but she could not replace the cash-and one as far as the sparrow was concerned, was as bad as the other But there was a way, and it was simple enough She whispered to herself that it was not after all. very dangerous, that the cards were all in her own hands. She had only to pull down those shields with chatter to the floor, which would arouse some one of the house. hold, and as that some one reached the library door and opened it. she would be disappearing through the window, the necklace, though it had slipped from her pocket or grasp in her wild effort to escape would be lying behind her on the floor. They would see that not was not the Sparrow; and there would be no ques- tion as to where the money was gone since the money had not been drop ped. There was the interval of course, that must elapse between the accident that knocked the shields from the wall and the time it would take any of the inmates to reach the library, an interval in which thief might reasonably be expected to have had time enough to get away with out being seen; but the possibility that she had not fully accomplished her ends when the accident occurred, and that she had stayed to make frantic efforts to do so right up to the last moment, would account for that.
 She moved now to an e1ectric-1igat switch, and turned on the light They must be able to see. beyond any ques- ton of doubt that the person escap- ing through the window was not the Sparrow. What was she afraid of now, just at the last! There was an actual physical discomfort In the furious humping of that cowardly little heart Of aerr. It was the only way. And ii was worth 1t. And it was not Sd very dangerous People aroused out of bed could not follow her in their night clothes; and in a matter of but few minutes, before che police notified by telephone could become a factor in the affair, she would have run the block down the Avenue, and then the other block down the cross street then back to the taxi, and be whirling safely down town.
 Yes, she was readyI She nodded her head sharply. ss though in inn perative self-conntnand. and running back, her foothills soundIess on the rich, heavy rug. she picked up the plush-1ined necklace case. She drop ped this again, open, on the floor, hallway between the safe and the win- dow. With tho case apparently burst open as ts faSl, and the neck lace also on the floor, the stage would be set! She felt inside her bodice. | drew out the necklace-and as she stood there holding 1t, and as it caught the light and flashed back its fire and life from a thousand facets 1 a numbness seemed to come stealing over here and a horror. and q great fear. and a disr1ay that robbed her of power of movement until 1t seemed that she was rooted to the spot, and a low. gasQipg cry came from her lips. Her eyes. wide with their alarm. were fixed on the window. There was a mans face there. just above the window, and now a mans form
 
 ped lightly to the floor Inside the room. And she stared in mortified fas- cination, and could not move. It was the Adventurer.
 ''It'S Miss Gray, isn't it? The White Moll?'' he murmured amiabIy. ..I've been trying to find you all night | What corking luck! You remember know"
 She did not answer. His eyes had shifted from her face to the glitter ing river of gems in her hand.
 'I see." he smiled, that you are ahead of me again. We'll, it is the complain She found her voice at last; and quick as a flash, as he advanced a step, she dropped the necklace into her pocket, and her revolver was in her hand
 'w-what are you doing here?'' she whispered
 He shrugged his shoulders expres- sively.
 'I take it that we are both in the same boat he said pleasantly.
 .Tn the same boat?" she echoed .dully She remembered his conver- sation with her a few hours ago when he had believed he was talking to Gypsy Nan. And now he stood be- fore her for the second time self confessed thief. In the same boat fellow-thieves! A certain cold com posture came to her 'You mean you came to steal this necklace? Well, you shall not have it. And. furthermore. you have no right to class me with yourself a thief"
 He had a whimsical and very en- ra oine smile His evebroWS lifted.