She seemed a little reassured.

“Mother will be so dreadfully frightened,” she repeated, “I’ll give you everything there is in the house if only you’ll go at once.”

“I can take everything I want without your giving it me,” he retorted.  “How do I know you’re telling the truth when you say there’s no one else in the house?  How many servants have you?”

“None,” she answered.  “There’s a woman comes every day, but she doesn’t sleep here.”

“Do you live all alone here with your mother?” he asked, watching her keenly.

“There’s my stepfather,” she answered.  “But he’s not here tonight.”

“Oh, is he away?” Dunn asked, his expression almost one of disappointment.

The girl, whose first extreme fear had passed and who was watching him as keenly as he watched her, noticed this manner of disappointment, and could not help wondering what sort of burglar it was who was not pleased to hear that the man of the house was away, and that he had only two women to deal with.

And it appeared to her that he seemed not only disappointed, but rather at a loss what to do next.

As in truth he was, for that the stepfather should be away, and this girl and her mother all alone, was, perhaps, the one possibility that he had never considered.

She noticed, too, that he did not pay any attention to her jewellery, which was lying close to his hand on the toilet-table, and though in point of actual fact this jewellery was not of any great value, it was exceedingly precious in her eyes, and she did not understand a burglar who showed no eagerness to seize on it.

“Did you want to see Mr. Dawson?” she asked, her voice more confident now and even with a questioning note in it.

“Mr. Dawson!  Who’s he?” Dunn asked, disconcerted by the question, but not wishing to seem so.

“My stepfather, Mr. Deede Dawson,” she answered.  “I think you knew that.  If you want him, he went to London early today, but I think it’s quite likely he may come back tonight.”

“What should I want him for?” growled Dunn, more and more, disconcerted, as he saw that he was not playing his part too well.

“I don’t know,” she answered.  “I suppose you do.”

“You suppose a lot,” he retorted roughly.  “Now you listen to me.  I don’t want to hurt you, but I don’t mean to be interfered with.  I’m going over the house to see what I can find that’s worth taking.  Understand?”

“Oh, perfectly,” she said.

She was watching him closely, and she noticed that he still made no attempt to take possession of her jewellery, though it lay at his hand, and that puzzled her very much, indeed, for she supposed the very first thing a burglar did was always to seize such treasures as these of hers.  But this man paid them no attention whatever, and did not even notice them.

He was feeling in his pockets now and he took out the revolver and the coil of thin rope he had secured from the burglar.