“I cannot do it.”
“Then let me go.”
“No, no, no!” he cried. “I am not so lost to all manly feeling as that. Here, give them to me, and let us get away.”
“Yes,” she said eagerly, “at once. You will go, Harry, and let us cross to-night.”
He nodded his head, and without another word swept the jewels into his pocket, and made towards the door. As he laid his hand upon the lock he turned sharply and came back.
“I’m like a curse to you, Louie,” he said, kissing her; “but I’m going to try, and you shall guide me now.”
She clung to him for a few moments, and then loosened her grasp.
“I shall be ready when you come back,” she said. “We can pay these people, and it will be like breathing afresh to get away.”
“Yes,” he said. “But Pradelle?”
“Is our enemy, Harry. Your evil genius.”