Page:Arthur Stringer - The Hand of Peril.djvu/205

 And it was his duty to break down her arch of deception while there was still time.

"You must believe me!" she cried out, startled by the look of doubt that had swept over his face.

"Why?" he demanded.

"Because I am asking you to help me!" she said with a forlornness of tone which touched him even against his will.

"But how can I do that?"

"By letting things stand as they are," was her quick retort. "By dropping this persecution, of me and my father and giving me the chance of going back to Europe!"

Kestner was watching her closely.

"Who told you to ask for this?" he demanded.

"I am asking it for myself," was her reply. "And in asking it I can give you the promise there will be no need for further action on your part."

"By that you mean no more counterfeiting?"

"Yes."

"But can you answer for your father, and for Morello, when you venture that promise?"

"No, I can't answer for them," she acknowledged, as she looked down at the plates on her knee. Then she turned back to Kestner again. "But, don't you see, without these to print from they will be helpless. They can't carry out what they have planned, without plates. And without me they can never make more!"

That, at least, seemed reasonable enough.

"Then what must I do?" inquired the Secret Agent.

"Let me get away from all this," was her answer.