Page:The traitor; a story of the fall of the invisible empire (IA traitorstoryoffa00dixo).pdf/191

 gold letters of the sign held her with a strange fascination:

She had never noticed this piece of plain black iron before, and yet somehow it seemed a part of the record of her deep inner life, and, as it moved, gently stirred by the soft breezes of a Southern day, creaking on the rod from which it hung, the sound thrilled her with a feeling of strange terror. She turned quickly away, her heart pounding with excitement, and began to retrace her steps.

She walked a block, stopped, flushed red, frowned and turned on her heels.

"I'll not be a silly coward. I'll not look back again until it's done."

This time she walked firmly up the stairs and gently knocked on his door.

John had just finished his business with Nickaroshinski. The old Jew had accepted his personal note unsecured by any endorsement for the money needed to send Billy north to college. He sat in brooding silence, idly holding between his fingers the paper on which he had recorded the memorandum of his new indebtedness. He was not worrying over his ability to pay—of that he felt sure. Butler had answered his suit by