Page:Arthur Stringer - The Door of Dread.djvu/309

 against the breasts of the three men seated behind it, before they could rise to their feet. This, for a few seconds, preoccupied them with purely defensive movements. Yet before those three men could actually comprehend the meaning of her advance she had caught and snatched away the electric-light standard, tearing the cloth-covered wires from their socket as she darted back across the room.

The result of this maneuver was to plunge the place into total darkness. She could hear the sound of overturned chairs and the quick shouts to Heinold to guard the door. But she was close beside the pale-eyed Austrian before he could recover from his first surprise. He threw out his arms to bar her way, and clutched at her when she brushed against him. But the lacquered brass lamp-standard was already poised, and at the right moment she brought it down with all her force.

She could hear his curse of anger as he fell back before that onslaught, for her blow had not fallen true. But he no longer occupied her thoughts. Her one passion was to get through the door, against which she had fallen bodily. She heard, even before she had it open, quick steps stumbling and advancing about her in the darkness. But she had found the