He was hopelessly
mystified and utterly miserable.
"How did you open the drawer?" he asked sternly.
She took up the bunch of keys which lay upon the table and naively
exhibited that which fitted the lock of the drawer. Her hands were
shaking.
"Where did you obtain this key; and why?"
She watched him intently, her lips trembling and her eyes wells of
sorrow into which he could not gaze unmoved.
"If I tell you--will you let me go?"
"I shall make no promises, for I can believe nothing that you may
tell me. You gained my confidence by a lie--and now, by another lie,
you seem to think that you can induce me to overlook a deliberate
attempt at burglary--common burglary." He clenched his hands.
"Heavens! I could never have believed it of you!"
She flinched as though from a blow and regarded him pitifully as he
stood, head averted.
"Oh, please listen to me," she whispered. "At first I tell you a lie,
yes."
"And now?"
"Now--I tell you the truth."
"That you are a petty thief?"
"Ah! you are cruel--you have no pity! You judge me as you judge--one
of your Englishwomen. Perhaps I cannot help what I do. In the East a
woman is a chattel and has no will of her own."
"A chattel!" cried Stuart scornfully. "Your resemblance to the
'chattels' of the East is a remote one. There is Eastern blood in
your veins, no doubt, but you are educated, you are a linguist, you
know the world. Right and wrong are recognizable to the lowest savage.
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