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Page 42
"'But,--' I expostulated.
"'Hush!' said she with her ear turned towards the depths of the
staircase at the top of which we stood. 'My father and brother will
think as you do that it is folly to leave the shelter of a roof for
the uncertainties of the road on such a night as this, but you must
not heed them. I tell you shelter this night is danger, and that the
only safety to be found is on the stormy highway.'
"And without waiting for my reply, she passed rapidly down stairs,
pushed open a door at the bottom, and stepped at once into the room
we had left an hour or so before.
"What was there in that room that for the first time struck an ominous
chill as of distinct peril through my veins? Nothing at first sight,
everything at the second. The fire which had not been allowed to die
out, still burned brightly on the ruddy hearthstone, but it was not
that which awakened my apprehension. Nor was it the loud ticking
clock on the mantel-piece with its hand pointing silently to the hour
of eleven. Nor yet the heavy quiet of the scantily-furnished room with
its one lamp burning on the deal table against the side of the wall.
It was the sight of those two powerful men drawn up in grim silence,
the one against the door leading to the front hall, the other against
that opening into the kitchen.
"A glance at Luttra standing silent and undismayed at my side,
however, instantly reassured me. With that will exercised in my
favor, I could not but win through whatever it was that menaced me.
Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I made a move towards the door and
the silent figure of my host. But with a quick outreaching of her
hand, she drew me back.
"'Stand still!' said she. 'Karl,' she went on, turning her face
towards the more sullen but less intent countenance of her brother,
'open the door and let this gentleman pass. He finds the house unsafe
in such a gale and desires to leave it. At once!' she continued as
her brother settled himself more determinedly against the lock: 'I
don't often ask favors.'
"'The man is a fool that wants to go out in a night like this,' quoth
the fellow with a dogged move; 'and so are you to encourage it. I
think too much of your health to allow it.'
"She did not seem to hear. 'Will you open the door?' she went on, not
advancing a step from the fire, before which she had placed herself
and me.'
"'No, I won't,' was the brutal reply. 'Its been locked for the night
and its not me nor one like me, that will open it.'
"With a sudden whitening of her already pale face, she turned towards
her father. He was not even looking at her.
"'Some one must open the house,' said she, glancing back at her
brother. 'This gentleman purposes to leave and his whim must be
humored. Will you unlock that door or shall I?'
"An angry snarl interrupted her. Her father had bounded from the door
where he stood and was striding hastily towards her. In my
apprehension I put up my arm for a shield, for he looked ready to
murder her, but I let it drop again as l caught her glance which was
like white flame undisturbed by the least breeze of personal terror.
"'You will stop there,' said she, pointing to a spot a few feet from
where she stood. 'Another step and I let that for which I have heard
you declare you would peril your very soul, fall into the heart of the
flames.' And drawing from her breast a roll of bills, she stretched
them out above the fire before which she was standing.
"'You -----' broke from the gray-bearded lips of the old man, but he
stopped where he was, eyeing those bills as if fascinated.
"'I am not a girl of many words, as you know,' continued she in a
lofty tone inexpressibly commanding. 'You may strangle me, you may
kill me, it matters little; but this gentleman leaves the house this
night, or I destroy the money with a gesture.'
"'You -----' again broke from those quivering lips, but the old man
did not move.
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