Page:Arthur Stringer--The House of Intrigue.djvu/351

331 ought to behave. And to make sure that it would continue in that line of conduct, I quietly reached over and doubly locked the door with its safety-catch. Yet before doing this I had to fight down a strong impulse to do just the opposite thing, and even assist Pinky in his illicit entrance into that house. For one moment, in fact, I was greatly tempted to slip back the latch and duck for cover, leaving Pinky free to step into the presence of his lady-love and let that sartorial fricassee of his do its worst. But this was driven out of my head by my suddenly catching sight of a layer of court-plaster along a well-defined bump just above Pinky's left ear.

Had I been less interested in that bump, and in its origin, I suppose, Pinky himself would never have caught sight of me. But Pinky, suddenly flattening his nose against the glass, clearly saw me on the other side of the door and as clearly concluded that I once more lay at the root of his troubles.

He acted with both despatch and determination. In other words, he suddenly backed off and "shouldered" that door the same as a patrolman shoulders open a flat-door when he finds smoke coming out through its cracks. There must have been nearly two hundred pounds of brawn behind that bull-like charge, for the lock-bar splintered away the wood-