For several moments neither spoke, each absorbed in his own speculations. Beecher studied the figure at his side with covert glances, amazed at the transformation from the childlike charm which had first fascinated him. An hour before he had begun to wonder how far that feeling might develop in him; now, as he watched her, he was conscious of a dispassionate, almost resentful analysis. The fragrance of her perfume, a little too overpowering, filled the interior of the coupé. She herself, bending slightly forward, one elbow against the window-pane, pressed her ungloved knuckles against her chin, while her glance, set and controlled, was lost in the cloudy shadows and striped reflections of the street without. "What is terrible in such a situation," she said musingly, but without turning, "is that any one may be suspected." The words were spoken with almost an absolute change of personality. The very tone brought to him an increased antagonism. "Quite true," he said. "You may have taken it the first time, and I the second." She turned and tried to distinguish his expression; but, if he had hoped to startle, he was disappointed. She said, quite possessed: "Why do you put it that way?" "Because I am convinced that the second time was the deliberate action of a man, and that the first was the impulse of a woman." "Why a woman the first time?" "That is simply my feeling. A woman would not calculate the chances of detection, would have kept the ring on her person, and would have restored it. What do you think?" "Possibly," she said, her glance returning to the street. "But you don’t agree with me," he said, leaning a little forward. "I don’t know." "Miss Charters, will you allow me to ask you a question?" "What? Yes." "Don’t you know that a woman took it the first time?" She turned very slowly and looked at him steadily a moment. "I do not know," she said at last. "But you suspect," he persisted. "Do you know, Mr. Beecher, that this is a very strange question?" she said. "Exactly what are you implying? Do you, by any chance, suspect me?" She said the last words gently, with a return of the first manner which had so held him. And again, without being able to resist, he felt the charm on his senses. He knew absolutely nothing about her. At times the most direct suspicions had entered his mind; never-the-less all at once he heard himself answering: "I know nothing in the world about you, Miss Charters, but my instinct tells me that is absolutely impossible." "Only?" "Only I can not forget your agitation at certain moments." "Naturally; that is my temperament." "You are perfectly calm now, and you were perfectly calm at certain times tonight." She turned suddenly in her seat and faced him, saying sharply: "What do you mean?" "May I speak frankly?" "I ask you to do so," she said peremptorily. "I think—in fact, I am convinced—that you suspect who took the ring in the first place."