Page:Arthur Stringer - The Door of Dread.djvu/141

 But Sadie, at that particular moment, was not listening to him. Her thoughts were elsewhere. For still again from beyond her room-door she heard the sound of voices, the expostulatory tones of the bewildered Zuleika, and the heavier tones of the unknown intruder whose entrance she seemed to be disputing.

For a second or two Sadie thought the intruder might be Wilsnach come back, or even Kestner himself. But intervention so timely as that, she felt, was too good to be true.

Dorgan himself suddenly backed away and turned to the door, with his head thrust forward and his one visible eye interrogatively blinking. Then he looked a little helplessly at the languid-eyed seeress behind the table, for louder above the thick notes of the huge negress suddenly sounded the authoritative guttural of the man's voice. Then came a silence which seemed interminable.

"That's Kendall!" said Dorgan in a whisper, as he continued to retreat until he stood with his back against the wall.