“You’re not going to hurt me, are you?” he said.
Something in the voice attracted Herbert at once. He scrutinized the bleared face and recognized in it the countenance of Harry Adler. The discovery aroused his indignation.
“You scoundrel!” he shouted, raising his voice in his anger. “What do you mean by coming here and trying to rob these people. Aren’t you satisfied with the injury you have already done to this family? You have taken their boy away from them, and now to cap the climax, you are low enough and despicable enough to come and try to rob them of their property.”
“What family?” asked Adler, looking up at the young man with a sullen gaze.
“What family?” ejaculated Herbert, “do you mean to say that you did not know that this was John Black’s house?”
“No,” was the reply with an ugly leer. “I didn’t know it was John Black’s house. I was hard up; I had to get something; I needed money. This looked like an easy thing. How could I tell whose crib I was trying to crack?”
“Well,” said Herbert bitterly, “you put your head in the noose this time all right You’ve been caught red-handed, and you’ll go to jail without doubt.”
“How do you know this?” asked Adler, with sudden defiance.
“Because the house is guarded back and front,” was the reply; “because I have caught you in the act and you are my prisoner now, and I don’t propose to permit you to escape.”
The burglar looked at his antagonist in a blank sort of way for a moment, then a glitter of intelligence and cunning suddenly illumined the fishy eyes and the sodden face.
“If you permit the police to take me up to-night you’ll regret it to the very end of your life.”
Something in the man’s manner and in the tone of his voice arrested Herbert’s attention. Some instinctive feeling seemed to tell him that these words were not mere bravado. He turned to the culprit:
“Because,” exclaimed Adler, in a shrill voice, “if you have me arrested I’ll squeal. I’ll tell the truth and the whole truth about young Arthur Black. He came to New York with me as my partner. He was concerned in that dirty get-rich-quick business. I’ll turn State’s evidence, and if I go to jail he’ll go with me, and you can bet your sweet life that the Black family will be mighty unhappy before I get through with them.”