Rhoda Gray found no answer for a moment. A great lump had risen in her
throat. Neither would she have needed to be told; she, too, would have
known it anyway--it was stamped in the gray pallor of the woman's face.
She pressed Gypsy Nan's hand.

And then Gypsy Nan spoke again, a queer, yearning hesitancy in her
voice:

"Do--do you believe in God?"

"Yes," said Rhoda Gray simply.

Gypsy Nan closed her eyes.

"Do--do you think there is a chance--even at the last--if--if, without
throwing down one's pals, one tries to make good?"

"Yes," said Rhoda Gray again.

"Is the door closed?" Gypsy Nan attempted to raise herself on her elbow,
as though to see for herself.

Rhoda Gray forced the other gently back upon the pillows.

"It is closed," she said. "You need not be afraid."

"What time is it?" demanded Gypsy Nan.

Rhoda Gray looked at her watch.

"Twenty-five minutes after twelve," she answered.

"There's time yet, then," whispered Gypsy Nan. "There's time yet."
She lay silent for a moment, then her hand closed tightly around Rhoda
Gray's. "Listen!" she said. "There's more about--about why I lived like
that than I told you. And--and I can't tell you now--I can't go out like
a yellow cur--I'm not going to snitch on anybody else just because I'm
through myself. But--but there's something on to-night that I'd--I'd
like to stop. Only the police, or anybody else, aren't to know anything
about it, because then they'd nip my friends. See? But you can do
it--easy. You can do it alone without anybody knowing. There's time yet.
They weren't going to pull it until halfpast one--and there won't be any
danger for you. All you've got to do is get the money before they do,
and then see that it goes back where it belongs to-morrow. Will you? You
don't want to see a crime committed to-night if--if you can stop it, do
you?"

Rhoda Gray's face was grave. She hesitated for a moment.

"I'll have to know more than that before I can answer you, Nan," she
said.

"It's the only way to stop it!" Gypsy Nan whispered feverishly. "I won't
split on my pals--I won't--I won't! But I trust you. Will you promise
not to snitch if I tell you how to stop it, even if you don't go there
yourself? I'm offering you a chance to stop a twenty-thousand-dollar
haul. If you don't promise it's got to go through, because I've got
to stand by the ones that were in it with me. I--I'd like to make
good--just--once. But I can't do it any other way. For