the conversation was
resumed.

"Now we must be sensible," she said, drawing away from him. "They may go
into your room at any moment, or come in here."

"That's true," Dan agreed. And then he remembered. "Kasia," he said,
hoarsely, "some one stole the box, after all!"

He heard her quick gasp of dismay.

"Not Pachmann!" she cried.

"No, not Pachmann; I don't know who it could have been, unless it was
that fellow Chevrial," and he rapidly told her the whole story. "I know
I was an awful chump to let Chevrial put it over me like that," he
concluded. "Once we're out of here, I'm going to scour New York for
him."

"Don't take it so to heart!" she protested, pressing his hand. "It
wasn't any fault of yours; and besides it doesn't matter so much, since
it wasn't Pachmann. Perhaps we can get it back--if we can't, why father
will make another! Come," she added, rising, "the first thing is to
escape. Can we get over the wall?"

"It looked pretty formidable; but I don't see what else we can do. We
can't fight our way out--I haven't anything to fight with."

"No; that is too dangerous," agreed Kasia, quickly. "There's a regular
giant of a man on guard out there."

"Two of them," said Dan. "I was an infant in their hands. Did you hear
me smashing things? There isn't much of the furniture left in that room
upstairs--and it did me good!"

"I did some smashing myself," laughed Kasia; "there are the pieces of a
chair over there by the wall."

Dan laughed in sympathy, with a heart surprisingly light. After all, it
was impossible to be either worried or frightened with her there beside
him!

"I'll go down and reconnoitre the wall," he said. "How far is the
pavement below your window?"

"Ten or twelve feet."

"I'll need more rope."

"My bed-clothes!" she cried. "We can make a rope from them."

She ran into the bedroom, drew the blind at the window, and then turned
on the light.

"No one can see us in here," she said, and began to strip the covers
from the bed. "Come in and shut the door, and they can't hear us
either."

Dan paused an instant at the threshold; then, ashamed of his hesitation,
he entered and closed the door.

"We can make a perfectly lovely rope of these," went on Kasia, her face
shining. "I happen to know how--we teach plaiting in our kindergarten on
the East side. First we must tear them into strips."

At this Dan helped her, and then the plaiting began. In twenty minutes
as many feet of rough