Page:Arthur Stringer - Gun Runner.djvu/99

 vigour, which persisted about her, even in shadow, like a penumbra.

"Could I speak to you?" she asked, a little disturbed at the other s continued silence. "I have something to explain," she continued, "something in which you might help me."

The flow of her English seemed as even and liquid as the flow of a river, yet there still remained that puzzling and piquant undercurrent of the exotic.

"You do not mind?" she asked, obviously puzzled by his continued aloofness. It was plain that she was not a woman who frequently asked favours of men.

"Of course I don't mind! It's only that a visit like this might be misconstrued"

She shrugged her shoulders ambiguously and sank into the steamer-chair. McKinnon discreetly slid back the shutter of his cabin window. He took the further precaution of drawing the faded denim curtain. The woman watched the operation with her mild and meditative gaze still on the figure before her. Then she motioned for him to sit down. She noticed his eyes on the door, apparently in apprehension, and she smiled a little. Then she became serious again and peered studiously about the room.

"You could put me in there?" she suggested,