As he made this fiendish suggestion he eyed the girl sharply. 

 Each change in her expression seemed to render her more beautiful. For a moment she was dazed and almost powerless to speak, then, as a great wave of color swept up to her very brow, she fairly hissed her answer in a scorching whisper. 

 "You coward! You cur! Go at once and leave me! Make what accusations you like—I am afraid of you no longer! In God will I place my trust, and He will not forsake me! Go, I say, and think well over what you are doing. Remember that there is One above you who is watching your evil deeds and as surely as He will punish the wicked so will He protect the innocent!" 

 As she spoke the last words she walked hastily away. 

 Bob Hardy stared after her stupidly, but did not attempt to follow her. 

 "Well, what did she say?" asked a voice at his elbow. 

 A well-dressed man of middle age had walked slowly across the street and stood waiting impatiently for Hardy's answer. 

 The detective drew a long breath and shrugged his shoulders a little. 

 "Oh, she's a high flyer," he answered, cautiously. "It will take time to clip her wings and tame her, captain, but don't you worry a bit. I'll earn your fifty dollars." 

 "As you have earned several other fifties," said the "captain," smiling. "Oh, well, you are in the right place for just such work. It's dead easy for you, Hardy. Why, those girls would all of them jump at the chance of getting out from behind those counters, but the deuce of it is that it's only the new ones who are pretty." 

 "Well, you've picked out the prettiest now, all right," laughed Hardy. "But I expect I shall have to scare her a little. She's not only proud as Lucifer, but she's chock full of religion. Says God will protect her and all that sort of thing." 

 The well-dressed "captain" threw back his head and roared. 

 "God will trouble Himself a lot about her, I'm thinking," he said, chuckling. "He is so given to looking after those half-starved creatures! Why, the Devil is the shop girls' best friend, if they only knew it." 

 "He stands by us pretty well, too, 

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