Page:Arthur Stringer - The Door of Dread.djvu/131

 Sadie, turning to the door, called to her turbaned negress.

"Zuleika, show this gen'l'mun where he kin find the nearest cop!"

"And you think I won't come back with him?" demanded the irate intruder.

"It costs yuh money to know what I think!" calmly announced the girl behind the black-draped table. A sense of triumph welled through her tired body. She felt like an actress who had faced one of her big scenes and had not failed in it. Yet she knew a vague sensation of anxiety, at the thought of her impending isolation, when she saw Kestner turn away. She had always been a little intimidated by the man from the Paris office. But never had her desire for his companionship been keener.

"You'll soon change your song!" he announced, as he paused for a moment at the end of the snake-embossed screen and stared belligerently back at her. Sadie, as he turned and stalked out, raked her mind for some adequate excuse to keep him there. But she could find none. She began to realize, to her inner consternation, that she would have to face whatever that night held for her, and face it alone.