"Then you feel sure that he would have told you in advance?"
"Positive."
"May he not have feared to ask you to implicate yourself in a robbery, and possible scandal? You know he was liable to arrest, and it might be a considerable time before he could have proven that his theft was only a joke. He may have wished to spare you notoriety."
"He knows me better than that." She said this with a smile.
"How better?" asked the detective.
"I mean that he knows there is nothing that I would not risk for him, since I have consented to give him myself. I am one of those women, Mr. Barnes, who are not easily deterred from aiding the man of her choice."
"Do you mean that you would be willing to share unenviable notoriety with him, and that he knew this?"
"I do, and therefore feel confident that he would have asked my assistance if it had been his intention to take my pin."
"Just as he did on another occasion?" The detective had been leading her up to this for the last few moments, and now watched to see the effect. She did not change countenance, but simply said: