"Don't take any more chances, Frank, as you did to-night. And don't think that I am giving up the pearls because of your threats. I did so because you are the first man who ever mastered me. Kiss me, Frank."
She held up her lovely, flushed face, and I kissed her twice.
"I always knew that there was a lot of good in you, my dear," I said.
"There's a lot of bad, too. When you threw me over there on the divan I wanted to murder you. I meant to call up Ivan after you had left and tell him what had happened. You would never have lived to go to the prefecture, Frank. But when you reminded me that the pistol was right beside me and I found that I could not shoot—then I knew."
She turned to me, her eyes misty and her lips quivering. But I had other affairs more important than to sit there and spoon with Léontine, so I got up to go.
"Thanks for the note," I said, "and forgive me for getting rough. I lost my temper."
"You've found something else," she said; and there was a break in her voice. "Hereafter, I'll play fair, Frank. Good-night."
So out I went and walked across to the Chausée de la Muette, where there is a cab-stand. It was a good hour to find Ivan, I thought, for people of the Under-World don't waste the night in sleeping. His address was on the note and my taxi pulled up in front of a charming little house over by the Parc Monceau. A sharp-eyed manservant opened the door and took my card, saying that he would see if
