Page:Arthur Stringer - The Door of Dread.djvu/279

 "But the valise?"

"The valise, Sadie, is naturally going along with the rest of us!"

"Not wit' yuh!" was her unexpectedly passionate declaration.

"Why not?" asked the still more amazed Wilsnach.

That question remained for all time unanswered.

For at that precise moment a sudden detonation shook the building in which they stood. The windows rattled. A tremor ran along the floor under their feet and minute flakes of loosened plaster snowed down about them. Sadie stood gaping at Wilsnach, an unuttered question in her staring eyes.

Wilsnach himself ran to the window and thrust out his head. But this window opened on the back of the house and showed nothing of the street. Then he went to the door and opened it. The place seemed oddly quiet after that one sudden thunder of sound which had shaken its floors.

"What do you suppose that was?" he asked through the open door. Then he stared along the hall toward the stair-head where he could make out a hurriedly approaching figure. This figure was both hatless and breathless. It was quite close to