having Old Jimmie as her father, and the Duchess as a landlady, and having for acquaintances such gentlemen as Barney Palmer and this returning prison-bird, Larry Brainard.     

       But petty crime, thought Hunt, would not be Maggie's forte if she developed her possibilities. With her looks, her boldness, her cleverness, she had the makings of a magnificent adventuress. As he painted, he wondered what she was going to do, and become; and he watched her not only with a painter's eye intent upon the present, but with keen speculation upon the future.     

  

       CHAPTER III     

       Presently Hunt's mind shifted to Larry Brainard, whom Barney Palmer and Old Jimmie Carlisle had come here to see. Hunt had a mind curious about every thing and every one; and blustering, bullying creature though he was, he had the gift, possessed by but few, of audaciously thrusting himself into other people's affairs without arousing their resentment. He was keen to learn Maggie's attitude toward Larry; and he spoke not so much to gain knowledge of Larry as to draw her out.     

       “This Larry—what sort of chap is he, Maggie?” As with most artists, talking did not interfere with Hunt's painting.     

       Warm color slowly tinted Maggie's cheeks. “He's clever,” she said positively. “You already know that. But I was only a girl when he was sent away.”      

       Hunt smiled at her idea of her present maturity, implied by her last sentence. “But you lived with the Duchess for a year before he was sent away. You must have seen a lot of him, and got to know him well.”      

       “Oh, he used to come down now and then to see his grandmother—I was only fifteen or sixteen then—just a girl, and he didn't pay much attention to me. Father can tell you better just how smart he is.”      

       Old Jimmie spoke up promptly. He knew Hunt was not a police stool, and he liked the painter as much as it was in him to like any man; so he felt none of the reserve or caution that might have controlled him in other company.     

       “You bet Larry's smart! Got the quickest brain of any con man in the business—and him only about twenty-seven now. Some think I'm a  

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