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Englishman and dropped the hangings before him, effectually hiding him from
observation from the rooms beyond.
He heard her cross the alcove to the door of the outer room, and heard the bolt
withdrawn followed by the voice of a man mingled with that of the girl. The tones
of both seemed rational so that he might have been listening to an ordinary
conversation in some foreign tongue. Yet with the gruesome experiences of the
day behind him, he could not but momentarily expect some insane outbreak from
beyond the hangings.
He was aware from the sounds that the two had entered the alcove, and,
prompted by a desire to know what manner of man he might next have to
contend with, he slightly parted the heavy folds that hid the two from his view
and looking out saw them sitting on the couch with their arms about each other,
the girl with the same expressionless smile upon her face that she had
vouchsafed him. He found he could so arrange the hangings that a very narrow
slit between two of them permitted him to watch the actions of those in the alcove
without revealing himself or increasing his liability of detection.
He saw the girl lavishing her kisses upon the newcomer, a much younger man
than he whom Smith-Oldwick had dispatched. Presently the girl disengaged
herself from the embrace of her lover as though struck by a sudden memory. Her
brows puckered as in labored thought and then with a startled expression, she
threw a glance backward toward the hidden niche where the Englishman stood,
after which she whispered rapidly to her companion, occasionally jerking her
head in the direction of the niche and on several occasions making a move with
one hand and forefinger, which Smith-Oldwick could not mistake as other than
an attempt to describe his pistol and its use.
It was evident then to him that she was betraying him, and without further loss
of time he turned his back toward the hangings and commenced a rapid
examination of his hiding place. In the alcove the man and the girl whispered,
and then cautiously and with great stealth, the man rose and drew his curved
saber. On tiptoe he approached the hangings, the girl creeping at his side. Neither
spoke now, nor was there any sound in the room as the girl sprang forward and
with outstretched arm and pointing finger indicated a point upon the curtain at
the height of a man's breast. Then she stepped to one side, and her companion,
raising his blade to a horizontal position, lunged suddenly forward and with the
full weight of his body and his right arm, drove the sharp point through the
hangings and into the niche behind for its full length.
Bertha Kircher, finding her struggles futile and realizing that she must conserve
her strength for some chance opportunity of escape, desisted from her efforts to
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