myself. But—but there's something on to-night that I'd—I'd like to stop. Only the police, or anybody else, aren't to know anything about it, because then they'd nip my friends. See? But you can do it—easy. You can do it alone without anybody knowing. There's time yet. They weren't going to pull it until halfpast one—and there won't be any danger for you. All you've got to do is get the money before they do, and then see that it goes back where it belongs to-morrow. Will you? You don't want to see a crime committed to-night if—if you can stop it, do you?”
Rhoda Gray's face was grave. She hesitated for a moment.
“I'll have to know more than that before I can answer you, Nan,” she said.
“It's the only way to stop it!” Gypsy Nan whispered feverishly. “I won't split on my pals—I won't—I won't! But I trust you. Will you promise not to snitch if I tell you how to stop it, even if you don't go there yourself? I'm offering you a chance to stop a twenty-thousand-dollar haul. If you don't promise it's got to go through, because I've got to stand by the ones that were in it with me. I—I'd like to make good—just—once. But I can't do it any other way. For God's sake, you see that, don't you?”
“Yes,” said Rhoda Gray in a low voice; “but the promise you ask for is the same as though I promised to try to get the money you speak of. If I knew what was going on, and did nothing, I would be an accomplice to the crime, and guilty myself.”
“But I can't do anything else!” Gypsy Nan was speaking with great difficulty. “I won't get those that were with me in wrong—I won't! You can prevent a crime to-night, if you will—you—you can help me to—to make good.”
Rhoda Gray's lips tightened, “Will you give me your word that I can do what you suggest—that it is feasible, possible?”
“Yes,” said Gypsy Nan. “You can do it easily, and—and it's safe. It—it only wants a little nerve, and—and you've got that.”
“I promise, then,” said Rhoda Gray.
“Thank God!” Gypsy Nan pulled fiercely at Rhoda Gray's wrist. “Come nearer-nearer! You know Skarbolov, old Skarbolov, who keeps the antique store—on the street—around the corner from my place?” Rhoda
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