“Oh, if you insist,” said the detective with a disagreeable leer, “I won’t be so unkind as to disappoint a lady.”

He stepped a little to one side as he spoke, and his eyes wandered scrutinizingly over Faith’s lovely face and figure.

“You see,” he continued, “you are badly tangled up in that affair at the office; in fact, to be plain, Mr. Forbes thinks that you stole the five hundred dollars, and it will go hard with you when he gets back to biz; that’s why I wanted to warn you.”

“Indeed!”

Faith’s head towered above the detective’s as she spoke.

“You are very kind, Mr. Detective; but, as I have stolen no money, nor anything else, I have no fear of Mr. Forbes, or any need of your most extraordinary warning.  You will please allow me to pass and not follow me any farther.  It is no sign because I am working in a store that I am not a lady and entitled to courtesy.”

She started to pass him, but with a stride the fellow was before her.

“Not so fast, my fine lady,” he cried with a sneer.  “You don’t know me, I guess.  I don’t let thieves escape me so easily.”

“How dare you?” cried Faith, her face flaming with anger.

“Oh, I dare anything,” retorted the detective, “especially where my reputation is at stake!  I’ve got orders from Forbes to catch that thief, and, as you are the easiest bird to catch, I’m just going to bag you—­that’s all there is about it.  I’ll swear that I found this wad of bills in your pocket, see!”

He drew a roll of money from his pocket and flourished it before her as he spoke.

“Oh, you would never be so wicked, so dastardly, as that!” cried Faith.  “Have you no sense of honor, no manliness about you?”

Her words were so appealing that the detective winced a little.  His keen eyes shifted uneasily.  He could not face her.

“I offered to warn you,” he muttered at last.  “There’s a way out of the fix if you are a mind to take it.”

“But I am in no fix!” protested Faith.  “I have done no wrong!  How dare you accuse me!”

The detective went on as though she had not spoken.

“There’s a way out of it, miss; you have only to say the word.  I know a gent that’s in love with you this very minute.  He’ll fix things with old Forbes—­he’s got lots of dough.  Just you promise to be agreeable and I’ll hush the whole thing up to-morrow.”

As he made this fiendish suggestion he eyed the girl sharply.

Each change in her expression seemed to render her more beautiful.  For a moment she was dazed and almost powerless to speak, then, as a great wave of color swept up to her very brow, she fairly hissed her answer in a scorching whisper.

“You coward!  You cur!  Go at once and leave me!  Make what accusations you like—­I am afraid of you no longer!  In God will I place my trust, and He will not forsake me!  Go, I say, and think well over what you are doing.  Remember that there is One above you who is watching your evil deeds and as surely as He will punish the wicked so will He protect the innocent!”