YOURS WITH ALL MY HEART 



" They might have rushed upstairs to hide 

 and then jumped off that low, flat roof." 



"I'll go with you," said Mistress Wake- 

 man, with chattering teeth. "Maybe we 

 three could hold 'em in a closet till the police 

 can get here." 



" Jes gib dis chile a hole ob der wool, an' 

 dey'll neber knowed what hurt 'em ! " snorted 

 Becky with dilating nostrils. Just then an 

 umbrella slipped in the hall rack and fell 

 with a little rustle and thud. The three 

 burglar-hunters went up in the air with 

 three muffled shrieks and came down in a 

 close, huddled heap. Inez pulled away 

 and tried hard to keep the lead, but Becky 

 kept well abreast. No, there wasn't a boot- 

 leg projecting from under a bed, nor a man 

 in a single closet; all was untouched; had 

 the mistress and Becky not followed so 

 closely, Inez might have found their tracks. 



So they crept downstairs again, and Mis- 

 tress Wakeman, finding the coast clear, be- 

 gan to collect her ideas, and ran her eyes 

 anxiously over the confused contents of 

 her dressing-table and bureau, thrown so 

 ruthlessly about. One thing her thoughts 

 centered on she could not see, and Inez 



105 



