Lying thus, and stretching out an arm, he could almost touch the nearest window with his fingers, almost, but not quite. Still lying flat, he dragged himself a yard farther. His head was now in line with the window, but the close-drawn shade shut out all but the suggestion of the inner light. He hesitated a moment, then, very cautiously, tapped on the frosty pane.
There was no response. He tapped again, and then a third time, twice in succession and more compellingly. This time he thought he heard a movement in the room, but he was not sure.
He waited a moment, then softly signaled again. There was no question now about the movement in the room. He heard it distinctly, heard it approach the window, heard it cease, then saw the curtain slowly drawn.
The face of Doris looked out, at first vaguely, as if she had fancied the noise some manifestation of the storm. But in the next instant she glanced down, saw him, and obviously checked an exclamation. In another moment she had opened the window, and without straightening up he had slipped across the sill.
Neither spoke. Laurie was looking about the room, rea.s.suringly empty, save for those two. He closed the window, drew the shade, and became conscious that she held his hand and was drawing him urgently toward the fire. At the same time she answered his unasked question.
"They"re all down in the kitchen, I think. Listen!"
She opened the door leading to the hall, and, going out, leaned over the stair-rail.
"Yes, they"re still there," she reported when she came back. "All but one of the Italians. They"re eating now, and after that I _think_ they"re planning to leave."
"Where"s the hag?"
"Waiting on them."
She spoke detachedly, almost dully. As in the morning, she was not surprised; but to-night there was in her manner a suggestion of repressed excitement which it had not held before.
"Have you a heavy coat?" he asked her.
"Yes."
"Get it and put it on, quick. Don"t waste any time." He indicated the buckled house-shoes she still wore. "And put on some real shoes, if you have them."
Without replying, she disappeared. He followed her into the bedroom in which, during the hours of his presence that afternoon, the hag had found uneasy asylum. He indicated a door.
"Where does that lead?"
"Into a bath-room."
"There"s a back window over the veranda. What room does that mean?"
"A bedroom off the hall."
"Good!"
She followed his thought. "But I don"t think we can risk that. One of the Italians is patrolling the hall. That"s why they haven"t locked the door. I caught a glimpse of him just now, coming toward the foot of the stairs."
He stared at her frowningly, then, walking to the bed, stripped it with an arm-swing and seized the sheets.
"Then it"s simply a question of lowering you from the front," he cried, curtly. "I"ll lower you as far as I can, and we"ll have to risk a drop of a few feet. Snow"s safe."
As he spoke, he was hurriedly tearing and roping the sheets. "Used to do this at school when I was a kid," he explained. "Quite like old times.
Now get on the coat and shoes, please."
She needed the reminder. She was staring at this visitor, who had the face of the man she knew and the voice and manner of a stranger. All trace of young Devon"s debonair indifference was gone. He had the cold eyes and set jaw of a determined man, busy at some task which would a.s.suredly be done, but his air of detachment equaled her own.
When she was ready, and still with his new air of businesslike concentration on the job in hand, he adjusted the linen ropes, and after a preliminary survey of the grounds, led her through the window and out on the veranda roof. Here he briefly told her what to do, suiting action to words with entire efficiency, and a.s.suming her unquestioning obedience as a matter of course.
The lowering was not the simple exercise he had expected, any more than the upward climb had been. Light as she was, it was clear that her unsupported weight would be a heavy drag upon a body resting insecurely on a slippery roof with nothing more substantial than snow and ice to cling to. But eventually she was down, a little shaken but unhurt, and he was beside her.
"Now, let"s see how fast you can run," he suggested; and for the first time his whispered voice held a ring of the youth she knew. "Shaw"s watchers may suddenly begin to watch, or even to see something."
She responded to his changed tone with an uncontrollable gasp of relief, which he attributed to excitement.
"Don"t worry. All right now, I think," he said, with an immediate return to curtness. It steadied her as no other att.i.tude on his part could have done.
"Can you drive a Pierce Arrow?" he asked, as they plunged ahead through the snow-drifts.
"Yes."
"That"s fine. That"s great. I was afraid you couldn"t." This was Laurie again. He went on urgently. "If we"re stopped or separated, do exactly as I say. Don"t lose an instant. Rush to my car. It"s over there, among the trees. See?--there at the right. It"s turned toward the road." He indicated the spot. "Get in, go to the left at the first turn, drive full speed to a garage a quarter of a mile down the main road. No matter what happens, don"t stop till you reach it. Go into the garage, and wait half an hour for me. If I"m not there then, drive on to New York and go to this address." He gave her a penciled slip he had prepared. "Mrs.
Ordway is a good friend of mine. She"ll take you in and look after you.
Will you do that?"
"Yes." The word was so low that he had to bend his head to catch it.
His voice softened still more.
"Don"t worry. It will be all right. Only, some way, I can"t believe that Shaw is letting us off as easily as this."
She stumbled, but he caught her. For a moment he supported her, and in that moment, under the sense of her nearness and dearness and helplessness, the hardness of the past hour disappeared. He did not understand her. Perhaps he would never understand her. But whatever she was, she was all right.
Half leading, half carrying her, he got her to the car and into it. He had actually raised one foot to follow her when something stirred in the shadows near them, and the familiar, squat figure of Shaw stepped forth.
Though in his sudden appearance he had followed the dramatic instinct that seemed so strong in him, he had wholly lost the effect of unleashed fury he had worn in the afternoon. He was even smiling with an affectation of good-humored tolerance. He had the air of a man who, with the game in his hands, can afford to be patient and affable.
"Oh, come now," he said easily, "don"t leave us quite so soon! Since you"ve come back for another visit, we"ve decided to keep you a while.
You know, I warned you of that."
Laurie made a sign to Doris, which she instantly obeyed. Even before the indolent voice had finished speaking, she was at the wheel and the car had started. Shaw, springing forward with goggling eyes and dropped jaw, found his way blocked by a man as new to him as he had been to Doris, a Laurence Devon who all in an instant had taken on the black rage he himself had dropped. In the hands of this stranger was a revolver which neatly covered Shaw"s plump chest. Before this apparition, Shaw backed away precipitately.
"Stand exactly where you are." Devon"s voice was very quiet, but there was a quality in it which added to the icy chill of the night. "I know you"re not alone, but if any of your pals shows himself, I"ll shoot him dead. If you move or utter one word, or cry out, I"ll kill you. Do you understand?"
Shaw did understand. The look in his protruding eyes proved that. Those eyes shifted wildly, turning this way and that, as if in search of the help which lurked among those spectral trees. He himself stood as motionless as one of them, and as he stood he moistened his thin lips with the tip of a trembling tongue.
"Now," said Laurie, "I"m going to have the truth. I"m going to have it all, and I"m going to have it quick. If you don"t tell it, I"ll kill you. Probably I shall kill you anyway. But first you will answer two questions. What power have you got over Miss Mayo? And what are you trying to do?"
Shaw hesitated. Again his protruding eyes turned wildly to the right and left, as if in search of help. Still holding the revolver in his right hand, Laurie slowly reached out his left and seized the other"s throat in the grip of his powerful young fingers.
"Keep still," he warned, as the other started to raise his hands. "You think the game isn"t up, but it is. Now talk, and talk quick."
He tightened his grip on the thick, slippery throat. "I"m enjoying this," he rasped. "If you were anything but the snake you are, I"d give you a fighting chance. But a creature that uses chloroform and hires three thugs to help him in his dirty jobs--"
He increased the pressure on the thick neck. Shaw"s face began to purple. His eyes bulged horribly. He choked, and with the act gave up.
"Hold on," he gurgled. "Listen."