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Rh "I see!" he muttered slowly as he studied the other.

He rose, grasping his stick. Annis bowed exaggeratedly.

"I trust you are therefore advised to leave me well alone. My original intention, as you have observed, may have been to remove the emerald; but recently affairs have been shaping themselves so that it may be quite as profitable, and much less troublesome to collect the profits, to return the emerald to the place from which it seems to have disappeared. Do not, by your interference, urge upon me this second alternative!"

It had grown dark while they talked, but in their absorption neither had thought to turn on the electric light. Hereford, as he now backed toward the door, turned it on and attentively studied the other's face.