Page:Arthur Stringer--The House of Intrigue.djvu/122

110 she's too small-minded to realize there's seven million dollars mixed up in what's going to happen!"

So I was small-minded, was I? And I was the sort of girl who'd goose-step away from a mystery that was tangled up with seven millions in money! And I was to be put casually to sleep while they carried me off the field, dead to the world, to wake up on the Wolverine somewhere west of the Great Lakes! Well, I decided, if I was going to do all that I was going to hand myself the surprise of my eventful young life. And as I heard a final muffled direction or two, and a hand begin to turn the door-knob, I scooted back to my seat.

I had my eyes closed when the door swung open.

"Did I dream it, or did you say you hadn't any time to waste?" I blandly inquired, as the weasel-faced old man sidled back into the room. And I tried to look as tired as I could.

His lips were pursed up, meditatively, as he stared at me with empty and ruminative eyes. But it was only for a moment or two.

"We'll be busy enough, my dear young lady, before the next quarter of an hour is gone. But there's one point I want to impress on you right now. If you have anything to say, it must be said before you leave this room!"