"A thief among us?"
"A regular Galloping Dick. I'm a thief myself, for that matter."
"You?" she drew away from me a bit.
"Yes. My name is Procrastination."
"Ah, my grave Capuchin, we do not steal time; we merely waste it. But is what you tell me true?"
"I am very sorry to say it is. The jewels were worth something like ten thousand dollars."
"Merciful heavens!"
"It is true, infernally true,"—looking around to see if by chance Caesar had reappeared on the scene. (How was I to manage my escape? It is true I might hie me to the cellars; but how to get out of the cellars!) "Have you seen Julius Caesar?" I asked.
"Caesar?"
"Yes, Miss Hawthorne—"