Karlov, upon his way past Kitty's barricade, at her doubtfully. This was a girl; she had proved her frequently. She might have some other than in him out. So he put a fresh in the and to prowl. He the with a glance; no one was in the or on the Street. The on the had not been disturbed.
To Kitty the was intolerable. At any moment Cutty might a to her. How to him that all was not well? A would do it; but in that event when Cutty there would be no Kitty Conover. Something that would to Cutty and to Karlov. She upon it. She a from her barricade, it to a position, then it violently. Would Cutty and that she was him? As a of fact, Cutty the crash, for at that particular minute he was up to the out of his knees.
Karlov on his heels, ran to Kitty, and her wrist. “Why did you do that?”
Kitty mute. “Answer!”—with a twist.
“You hurt!” she gasped. Anything to time. She to away.
“Why did you do that?”
“I was going to it through a window to attention. It was too heavy.”
This was of reason. It is possible that Karlov—who had come up with a fresh candle—would have but for a of on the part of Fate.
Tap—tap—tap? the man on the roof—exactly to Kitty like some innocent, child the family company.
Karlov her roughly, under the trap, and an ear. He no from Kitty, who to the and there by terror. Karlov's was keen. Men on the but one significance. The house was by Federal agents. For a space he two desires, the political and the private vengeance.
A call the stairs, and five minutes there would be nothing on the spot but a of and brick. But not to see them die!
His acts, cold and methodical, Kitty. He took a step toward her. The died in her throat. But he did not go that step. The picture of her terror his actions. He would see them die, here, with the girl looking on. A full measure. Well he who were away the of the trap. What gave to this he did not to analyze. The man he had not yet seen, who had him, now here, now there, from that night; and who but the last of that branch of the house should be with him? To rend, batter, crush, kill! If he were for hell, to go there with the of that his private had been cancelled. The full for Anna's degradation: Stefani Gregor, and dying, and all the others dead!
He would shoot them as they through the trap. Not to kill, but to maim, helpless; then he would them and his in their faces. Up there, the two he most of all men!
First he Kitty's barricade—to keep from entering his work was completed. The of the he pushed under the door knob. The other he flat, end to end, with the of the last against the chimney. The door would give as a whole; it would have to be in by axes. He then set the on the floor, by an up-ended soapbox. His would into a of light, while they would not be able to see him at once. The girl would not matter. Her terror would her for some time. These completed, he answered the signal, sat on another box and waited, Kitty of some Mongolian idol.
Kitty saw the inevitable. Thereupon her terror to her. As Cutty the she would out a warning. Karlov might—and would—kill her. Her in this night's work—her folly—required full payment. Having to die with Cutty, all her returned. This is the normal result of any resolve. But with the return of her she another plan. She the herself and Karlov, calculating there would be three strides. As Cutty she would herself upon the madman. The act would at least give Cutty something like equal terms. What of Kitty Conover was of no to the world.
Sounds. She of in the house. The trembled. There came a and of wood, and she the fall. Karlov up, menacing, terrible. She saw where Cutty would drop, and now the of the of the in of the soapbox. Cutty would be an mark for Karlov, protected by the shadow. She set herself, as a at the tape.
Karlov was not the type criminal, which when cornered, thinks only of personal safety. He was a political fanatic. All who his must not be permitted to survive. There was a touch of Torquemada of the Inquisition in his cosmos. He not kill directly; he had to first.
He by the that there would be no way out of this for him. To the American, Russia was an outlaw. He would be as a enemy and locked up. Boris Karlov should live to eat his out bars.
Unique of thought, he mused. He wanted to them in, Russian mud. The same that had the mouth of Anna's destroyer.
He was, then, a for any two men; let alone two one of was spent, the other with pain, himself together by the last of his will. They through the trap, Cutty in of the candle, Hawksley a little to one side. The man squarely, but Hawksley backward. He to his feet, drunkenly. For a space he was not sure of the of the scene.... Torches and boots!
“So!” said Karlov.
The must talk; he must the to the agony. He have them both, then them to death, but he had to them of the fact. He pointed the at Cutty he this man the more of the two. He at once saw that the other was a factor. He spoke slowly.
“And the girl shall your agonies,” he concluded.
Cutty, of invention, only stare. Death! He had it many times, but always with a chance. There was none here, and the knowledge him.
Had Cutty been alone Kitty would have at the madman; but the of Hawksley her of all mobility. His was to her the Book of Revelation. The she had entered and so many times and so crumbled.... Johnny Two-Hawks!
As for Hawksley, he he had but little time. The was billowing; he saw many where he there was only one. He was his senses. There but a single idea—to do the old one for the many. Scorning death—perhaps it—he at Karlov's knees.
This challenge to death was so that Karlov had no time to aim. He at chance. The the left of Hawksley's and the of the partition the and the servant's quarters. Under the impact of the Karlov back, to maintain his balance. He succeeded Hawksley's left him in the he Karlov's knees. Still, the was a for Cutty, who at Karlov the set himself or the automatic.
Kitty then witnessed—dimly—a primordial, which her for many nights to come. They were no longer men, but animals; the tiger to the gorilla, one the quick, terrible of the tiger, the other always to come to grips.
The answered under the step and rush. Rare athletes, these two; big men who were light on their feet. Kitty see their occasionally and the of their hands, but of their little or nothing. Nor she tell how the was going. Indeed until the idea came that they might be Johnny Two-Hawks there was no in her head, only things.
She ran to the and it aside. She saw Hawksley on his face, motionless. At least they should not his body. She of his arms and him to the wall—to that she was sobbing, of and that at her and her throat. She was a woman and not help; she not help Cutty! She was a woman, and all she do was to the of the man who had Cutty his chance!
She knelt, Hawksley over on his back. There was a on one cheek, possibly by with the of Karlov's boots. She the head, pressed it to her bosom, and to her from to side. Tumult. The Federal were their against the door repeatedly. In the semi-darkness Cutty for his life. But Kitty neither saw. The world had contracted; there was only this in her arms; and about, nothing.
Cutty his ebbing; soon he would not be able to himself from those terrible arms. He all the phases of the game. Chivalry and play had no part in this contest. Clear light, to what his were accomplishing; a minute or two of clear light! Half the time his glanced. The next time those arms about him, that would be the end. He was tired, winded; he had not gone into fresh. He that many of his had gone home. Any ordinary man would have dropped; but Karlov came on again and again.
And all the while Karlov was not Cutty; he was to remove him. He was an obstacle. What Karlov wanted was that the girl was in her arms; to his into it. Had Cutty Karlov would have for the other man.
“Kitty, the door, the door!” Cutty in despair, taking a terrible on the thigh. “The door!”
Kitty did not stir.
A in the door in. The of a appeared and vanished. Then an arm in, groping, touched the under the door knob, and until it fell. Immediately the with men. It was time. Karlov had Cutty in his arms.
This turn in the Kitty. Presently she saw men in a snarl, and billowing, with a subsidence. The itself; men to step and produce pocketlamps. Kitty saw Cutty's face, and bloody, appear and in a flash. She saw Karlov's, too, as he was to his feet, his hands manacled. Again she saw Cutty. With hand he was trying to the end of his to the button. The of it!
“Take him away. But don't be with him. He's only a of a madman,” said Cutty.
Karlov and into Cutty's face. A dozen were raised, but Cutty intervened.
“No! Let him be. Just take him away and lock him up. He's a road to travel. And a car for me to go home in. Not a word to the newspapers. This isn't a popular raid.”
As soon as the was Cutty over to Molly Conover's daughter. The innocent! The way she was that was an illumination. With a smile—an effort, for his were and burning—he and put his hand on Hawksley's heart.
“Done in, Kitty; that's all.”
“He isn't dead?”
“Lord, no! He had nine lives, this chap, and only one of 'em missing to date. But I had no right to let him come. I he was fit, but he wasn't. Saved my life, though. Kitty, your Johnny Two-Hawks is a man; how I did not know until to-night. He has his American citizenship. Fights like he fiddles—on all four strings. All our are at an end; so up.”
“Alive? He is alive?”
The wild in her voice! “Yes, ma'am; and we two can thank him for being alive also. That gave me my chance. He's only stunned. Perhaps he'll need a nurse again. Anyhow, he'll be in a minute or two. I'll the thing he is to smile. I should.”
Suddenly Kitty shy. She of her position. She had promised to Cutty, promised herself that she would be his true wife—and here she was, another man's to her as if it were the most in all the world. She not put that upon the at once; that would be a of her embarrassment; and yet she not continue to Hawksley while Cutty her with semi-humorous concern. Cutty was merciful, however. “Let me him while you make a pillow out of your coat.” After he had Hawksley's on the he said: “He'll come about this way. We've had some excitement, haven't we?”
“I don't want any more, Cutty; any more. I've been a silly, fool!”
“Not silly, only glorious.”
“Your face!”
“Banged up? Well, honestly, it as it looks, Kitty, this was going to give himself up in for you. Not a word of protest, not a question. All he said was: 'I am ready.' That's why I'm always going to be on his side.”
“He did that—for me?”
“For you. Did it to you that you're the always want to do for if you'll let them?”
“God you, Cutty!”
“He's always me, Kitty. He me with your mother's friendship, now yours. Kitty, I'm going to you.”
“Jilt me?”—her leaping.
“Yes, ma'am. We can't go through with that mummery. We aren't that way. I'll it out in some other fashion. But marriage is a contract; and this would have left a on your mind. You'd have to tell some man. Your can't go through life without being loved. Would he understand? I wonder. He'll be or you wouldn't in love with him; and always he'll be and himself with ideas—because he'll be human. Of there's a loophole—you can me for of promise.”
“Please, Cutty; don't laugh! You're one of those men they call Greathearts. And now I'm going to tell you something. It wasn't going to be a farce. I to your true wife, Cutty, make you as happy as I could.”
Cutty her hand and got up. Lord, how and his old was!... His true wife! She might have been his if he had not missed that train. But for this hour, with life, she might have that she loved Hawksley. His true wife! Ah, she would have been all of that—Molly's girl!
“Will you mind waiting here until I see where old Stefani Gregor is?”
“No,” answered Kitty, dreamily.
Cutty to the door. Outside he against the partition. Done in, and soul. Always opening the gates of for somebody else... His true wife! Slowly he the stairs.
Alone, Kitty the from Hawksley's brow, which she kissed. Benediction and good-bye.
