week--next year. We shall never be
safe if we pay. Nobody will be safe--"

Her face was on his arm, sobbing close. "I hate--it!" she said brokenly,
"I _hate_--your--money! I want Betty!" The cry went through the
room--and the man was on his feet, looking down at her--

"Don't, Louie," he said--"don't, dear--I can't bear that! See, dear--sit
down!" He had placed her in the chair and was crooning to her, bending
to her. "We shall have her back--soon--now."

The telephone was whirring and he sprang to it.

The woman lifted her face, staring at it.

The Greek's deep eyes fixed themselves on it.

The room was so still they could hear the tiny, ironic words flinging
themselves spitefully in the room, and biting upon the air. "Time's
up," the Thing tittered--"Make it fifty thousand now--for a day. Fifty
thousand down and the child delivered safe--Br-r-r-r!"

The woman sprang forward. "Tell them we'll pay, Phil--give it to
me--Yes--yes--we'll pay!" She struggled a little--but the hand had
thrust her back and the receiver was on its hook.

"We shall _not_ pay!" said the man sternly, "not if they make it a
million!"

"I think they make it a million," said Achilles quietly.

They looked up at him with startled eyes.

"They know you--rich--" His hands flung themselves. "So rich! They
_make_ you pay--yes--they make everyone pay, I think!" His dark eyes
were on the woman significantly--

"What do you mean?" she said swiftly.

"If you pay--they steal them everywhere--little children." His eyes
seemed to see them at play in the sunshine--and the dark shadows
stealing upon them. The woman's eyes were on his face, breathless.

"They have taken Betty!" she said. It was a broken cry.

"We find her," said Achilles simply. "Then little children play--happy."
He turned to go.

But the woman stayed him. Her face trembled to hold itself steady under
his glance. "I want to save the children, too," she said. "I will be
brave!"

Her husband's startled face was turned to her and she smiled to it
bravely. "Help me, Phil!" she said. She reached out her hands to him and
he took them tenderly. He had not been so near her for years. She was
looking in his face, smiling still, across the white line of her lip. "I
shall help," she said slowly. "But you must not trust me, dear--not too
far.... I want my little girl--"

There were tears in the eyes of the two men--and the Greek went softly
out, closing the door. Down the wide hallway-