And then a key sounded in the outer door of the little hallway.
Instantly there was an almost unbelievable transformation in Maggie.
From an imperious, uncontrollable fury, she changed to a white,
quivering thing.
"Barney!" she whispered; and sprang to the inner door of the little
hallway, closed and locked it.
She turned on Larry a face that was ghastly in its pallor.
"Barney always carries a pistol," she whispered.
They had heard the outer door close with a click of its automatic
lock. They now heard the knob of the inner door turn and tugged at;
and then heard Barney call: "What's the matter, Maggie? Let us in."
Maggie made a supreme effort to reply in a controlled voice:
"Just a minute. I'm not quite ready."
Then a second voice sounded from the other side of the door:
"Don't keep us too long, Maggie. Please!"
There was a distantly familiar quality to Larry in that second voice.
But he did not try to place it then: he was too poignantly concerned
in his own situation, and in the bewildering change in Maggie.
She slipped a hand through his arm. "Oh, La-Larry, why did you ever
take such a risk!" she breathed. Her whisper was piteous, aquiver with
fright. "Come this way!" and she quickly pulled him into the room
where he had met Miss Grierson and to the door by which he had
entered.
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