Page:The Whisper on the Stair by Lyon Mearson (1924).djvu/294

 were there no longer. For a full fifteen seconds, without speaking, she looked into his eyes, and at the end of that time he had the grace to drop his own. He knew in that instant that, somehow, he had lost his power over her.

“No, I won’t go with you, Ignace,” she said in a low tone, but each word was clipped off short with decision and distinctness. “I won’t go with you ever again. I don’t want to see you again, ever.”

She turned to Val. “Are you ready to come?” she asked.

“Righto!” he said.

Without another glance at Teck, leaving him standing there in the center of the room as though he were a piece of the furniture, they walked out.

Once on the sidewalk they entered the flivver and turned once more in the direction of the still smoking Chamberlin. On the other side of the street Val, noticed Horseface sitting in a high-powered automobile, watching them carefully. As they looked back they saw Teck standing in the doorway of the restaurant, gazing after them.

He followed slowly, as they did not have far to go to get to the crowd that stood along the sea wall in front of the burning ruin. Val parked the car at the curb, and the party got out.

“Now where?” asked Jessica.

“Well, we have to throw them off our trail in some way,” meditated Val. “Teck’ll be here in a minute. And there was Horseface with a big machine outside the restaurant. You can rest assured they’ll take steps to keep us in sight. I suppose the Rat’s around here somewhere, too—looking us over.”