But after she
opened the door he saw Maggie fall back with an inarticulate cry, her
face suddenly blanched with astounded fright. And then Larry
experienced one of the greatest surprises of his life--a surprise so
unnerving that he almost loosed his hold upon Red Hannigan. For
instead of Dick there walked into the room the tall, white-haired
figure of Joe Ellison, and Joe's lean, prison-blanched face was
aquiver with a devastating purpose. How in the name of God had Joe
come to be here?--and what did that terrible look portend?
But Larry's surprise was but an unperturbing emotion compared to the
effect of her father's appearance, with his terrible face, upon
Maggie. Life seemed suddenly to go out of her. She realized that the
clever play which she had constructed so rapidly, and upon which she
had counted to clear the tangle for which she was in part responsible,
and to bring her back in time as the seeming fulfillment of the dream
of a happy and undisillusioned father--she realized that her poor,
brilliant play had come to an instant end before it was fairly
started, and that the control of events had passed into other hands.
CHAPTER XXXV
At the entrance of Joe Ellison instead of the expected Dick, Barney
and Old Jimmie had sprung up from the table in amazement.
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