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82 Cuttynge s house. I'd done all that I set out to do. And because you made me lose my head with your hugs and kisses, we smashed around like a brace of drunken dagoes and roused up the house and had to do a quick get-away. Then when I saw the agent about to nab the car I tackled him, broken arm and all, and held him while the rest of you quit it. Don't you suppose that I could have saved my bacon if I'd had a mind to? Broken arm or not, I'd have been over the wall opposite and away from there like a scared cat. Do I look like the sort of goop to get collared by a French cop? And the rest of you would have got nailed. Now what do I get in return? You send that animal, Chu-Chu, to rob the house of the people who saved me a life sentence, and get away with a rope of pearls and stick the blame on me, knowing well that my friends have got to sit tight and take it on account of what they did for me. And now you have the cast-iron nerve to tell me that I'm to sit tight and take it, too. No! You don't know me girl. Hand over those pearls, and be quick about it, or by the Power that made us both wrong I'll have you and your whole filthy mob in the dock. I've seen some dirty tricks in my life, but never such a skunk game as this."

Leontine had drawn back and was staring at me with a white face and flaming eyes. For a moment she raised her hands to her temples, standing rigid and erect, and with a curious expression as of a person who thinks deeply and with strong intensity. Then suddenly her face seemed to stiffen. She dropped her arms, and, turning, rushed to a little writing desk in the corner of the room.