“I took the money,” she confessed. “If I had not my girl would have been buried with the nameless dead.”
He looked at the sobbing woman kindly.
“Don’t worry about that, Mrs. Kinney. If only you had told me you could have had it.”
“I know that now,” she returned, “but then I was afraid.”
“You’ll stand by me notwithstanding that?” he pointed to the jeweled lamp.
“Why of course,” she said simply, and he knew she was genuine.
Almost as she spoke the bell rang.
“Go to the head of the stairs,” he commanded, “and I will let him in. Be certain to see how many there are. If there are two or more, call out that some men are coming. If it is the one who called before, say ‘the gentleman is here.’ Listen carefully. If there are two or more I shall get out by the roof. Meet me to-morrow by Grant’s Tomb at ten o’clock in the morning. You’ve got that?”
Mrs. Kinney was perfectly calm now and he was certain that her loyalty could be depended upon. Presently she called out, “The gentleman is here.”
Anthony Trent rose slowly from his chair by the window as his visitor entered. It was a heavily built man of sixty or so dressed very well. At a glance the stranger displayed distinguished urbanity.