YOURS WITH ALL MY HEART 



The very next morning, when the prying 

 Inez tiptoed to mamma's chiffonier, all 

 dressed, this time to make her escape to 

 town in the absence of the family, she saw 

 only emptiness where the jewel-box had 

 stood. She stood stock still, with a startled, 

 half-evil look in her glittering black eyes, 

 which seemed to grow bigger as she whis- 

 pered : 



'Suspected! Suspected, ha-ha!' And 

 then she muttered to herself, "I'll take the 

 next train, I guess.' And so she did, but 

 the little sharp-nosed man was on that train, 

 too, and he never lost sight of her. I heard 

 him tell mamma afterwards how he shad- 

 owed her all that day from place to place, 

 and when night fell how she issued forth, 

 arrayed, like the Queen of Sheba, in Imo- 

 gene's diamonds and mamma's laces. Then 

 he thought the hour was ripe, and he walked 

 quietly up to her with another officer and 

 said: 



'Miss Inez, you'll not be surprised to 

 hear that you are my prisoner.' 



When she tried to slap and scratch at him 

 in her sudden rage, the other officer snapped 

 a rough pair of iron bracelets on top of all 



134 



