her ear:

"I promised I'd make it up to you, Bertha, old girl. You'll see--after
to-night. We'll have another honey-moon. You go on ahead now--I can't be
seen with Gypsy Nan. And don't be late--the Silver Sphinx at eleven."

She ran out on the street. Her fingers mechanically clutched at her
shawl to loosen it around her throat. It seemed as though she were
choking, that she could not breathe. The man's touch upon her had seemed
like contact with some foul and loathsome thing; the scene in that room
back there like some nightmare of horror from which she could not awake.

XVI. THE SECRET PANEL

Rhoda Gray hurried onward, back toward the garret, her mind in riot and
dismay. It was not only the beginning of the end; it was very near the
end! What was she to do? The Silver Sphinx--at eleven! That was the
end--after eleven--wasn't it? She could impersonate Gypsy Nan; she could
not, if she would, impersonate the woman who was dead! And then, too,
there were the stolen jewels at old Jake Luertz's! She could not turn
to the police for help there, because then the Pug might fall into their
hands, and--and the Pug was--was the Adventurer.

And then a sort of fatalistic calm fell upon her. If the masquerade was
over, if the end had come, there remained only one thing for her to
do. There were no risks too desperate to take now. It was she who must
strike, and strike first. Those jewels in old Luertz's bedroom became
suddenly vital to her. They were tangible evidence. With those jewels
in her possession she should be able to force Danglar to his knees.
She could get them--before Pinkie Bonn and the Pug--if she hurried.
Afterward she would know where to find Danglar--at the Silver Sphinx.
Nothing would happen to Cloran, because, through her failure to
cooperate, the plan would be abortive; but, veiled, as the White Moll,
she could pick up Danglar's trail again there. Yes, it would be the
end--one way or the other--between eleven o'clock and daylight!

She quickened her steps. Old Luertz was to be inveigled away from his
home about ten o'clock. At a guess, she made it only a little after nine
now. She would need the skeleton keys in order to get into old Luertz's
place, and, yes, she would need a flashlight, too. Well, she would have
time enough to get them, and time enough, then, to run to the deserted
shed in the lane behind the garret and change her clothes.

Rhoda Gray, as Gypsy Nan, went on as speedily as she dared