He put the bills in his pocket and took out the cigar Taylor had given him.
"Here"s your cigar," he said.
Taylor s.n.a.t.c.hed it from him, and biting off the end, stuck it in his mouth. He a.s.sumed a brazen air of bravado. "Well," he cried bragging, "it took the biggest man in the secret service to land me, Mr. R. J., but I"ve got some mighty good pals, in some mighty good places, and they"ll come across for me, and don"t you forget it. After all, you"re not the jury, and all the smart lawyers aren"t dead yet."
"I don"t think they"ll help you this time," Denby said. "I believe you"ll still enjoy that winter climate."
"Aw, come on, you dirty grafter," Gibbs cried contemptuously, and with his partner led the broken man away.
Ethel came to his side when they were alone. "Did you really mean it about arranging with Mr. Harrington?" she cried.
He looked down at her tenderly. "Yes," he said. "We"ve saved her."
"And you are really R. J.?" she exclaimed wonderingly.
"I really am," he returned. "Can"t you guess how much I wanted to tell you before? But I couldn"t you know, at first, because I thought you might be Taylor"s accomplice. And later, I still dared not, because I was under orders with my duty toward my Government. Can you forgive me for making you suffer like that?"
"Forgive you?" she whispered tenderly. "Haven"t I said I love you?"
He took her in his arms and kissed her.
"And everything"s all right now, isn"t it?" she sighed happily.
He looked at her whimsically.
"Except that I"m hungry--are you hungry?"
"Starved," she cried.
"Let"s ask for some food," he suggested. "Nothing would gratify Lambart so much. But I don"t think I"ve been so hungry since I was in Paris."
"I wish it were Paris," she said. "Dear Paris, where I first found R.
J."
"It shall be, whenever you say," he answered, "and I"ll tell you all about R. J. and the lonely life he led till he saw you."
"And to think I could believe for a moment you were a criminal!" she said, self-reproach in her voice, "and even try to trap you!"
"But you"ve caught me," he said proudly.
"Have I really got you, Steve?" she asked, softly, holding out her arms to him.
THE END