"All women impose upon us, madam. And as for Mr. Cressy"--he fixed Harry with a look--"I could not accuse him of being an impostor since we have met in the sacred limits of of St. James'." The two glances that crossed before Flora's watchful eyes were keen as thrust and parry of rapiers. Harry bowed stiffly. "I believe, for a fact, we did _not_ meet, but I think I saw you there once--at some Embassy ball." The words rang, to Flora's ears, as if they had been shouted from the housetops. In the speaking pause that followed there was audible an unknown hortatory voice from the smoking-room. "I tell you it's a damn-fool way to manage it! What's the good of twenty thousand dollars' reward?" Flora clutched nervously at the back of her chair. She seemed to see the danger of discovery piling up above Kerr like a mountain. The judge chuckled. "You see what you saved me from. They've been at it hammer and tongs all the evening. Every man in town has his idea on that subject." "For instance, what is that one?" Kerr's casual voice was in contrast to his guarded eyes. The judge looked pleased. "That one? Why, that's my own--was, at least, half an hour ago. You see, about that twenty-thousand-dollar proposition--" They moved nearer him. They stood, the four, around the red velvet-covered table, like people waiting to be served. "The trouble is right here," said the judge, emphasizing with blunt forefinger. "The crook has a pal. That's probable, isn't it?" Harry nodded. Flora felt Kerr's eyes upon her, but she could not look at him. "And we see the thing is at a deadlock, don't we? Well, now," the judge went on triumphantly, "we know if any one person had the whole ring it would be turned in by this time. That is the weak spot in the reward policy. They didn't reckon on the thing's being split." "Split? No, really, do you think that possible?" Kerr inquired, and Flora caught a glimmer of irony in his voice. "Well, can you see one of those chaps trusting the other with more than half of it?" The judge was scornful. "And a fellow needs a whole ring if he is after a reward." He rolled his head waggishly. "Oh, I could have been a crook myself!" he chuckled, but his was the only smiling face in the party. For Kerr's was pale, schooled to a rigid self-control. And Harry's was crimson and swollen, as if with a sudden rush of blood. His twitching hands, his sullen eyes, responded to Judge Buller's last word as if it had been an accusation. "It makes me damned sick, the way you fellows talk--as if it was the easiest thing in the world to--" He broke off. It was such a tone, loose, harsh and uncontrolled, as made Flora shrink. As if he sensed that movement in her, he turned upon her furiously. "Well, are we going to stand here all night?" He took her by the arm. She felt as if he had struck her. Buller was staring at him, but Kerr had opened the door through which she had entered, and now, turning his back upon Harry, silently motioned her out.