"What are you planning to do?" she asked, colorlessly, though her eyes were alert.
"Well," said Dick, "I'm planning to get McKnight for this, for one thing, and I can't get McKnight without involving you, that is plain enough. You may have been merely his tools all right; but that won't help you in the long run. You've compounded a felony and you are responsible for your parts in the matter, even though you had no direct object of personal gain."
The feline glints suddenly flicked through Kat's eyes. "No," she said, ingenuously; "we had no personal gain in sight, we were only trying to help a friend." She was watching Dick as closely as Bert was watching her.
"Well," went on Dick; "as McKnight has no possible claim upon a child which might be accounted his brother's, the kidnapping is without excuse, either legally or ethically—"
Kat seemed to relax somewhat and a sad, deprecating little smile came about her mouth and it quivered pathetically. "Oh, Mr. Harris," she said, "you are so hard—so adamant hard. You have no feeling, no understanding for a woman's heart—for her sympathies. All that we can do is to confess to you and throw ourselves upon your mercy."
"Yes—" began Calista; but again she winced under the grip of her sister's caressing and sustaining hand upon her shoulder.
