Part 33 (1/2)

In a casual way he folded his arms. He could now put his hand into his inside coat-pocket and the motion would hardly be noticed.

For a moment he stood as though waiting for someone to appear at the inquiry-window. Though Alcatrante was watching him closely, Orme continued to act as if he were the only person in the room.

And now the dial of the big thermometer in the outer wall of the refrigerator appeared to catch his eye, and he strolled over to it. This placed him almost in the open doorway. Apparently his eyes were on the dial, but in reality he was glancing sidewise into the chamber of the refrigerator. He glimpsed a moving figure in there--heard a faint rustling. Thrusting his hand into the inside of his coat, he was about to take out the precious papers to pa.s.s them in to her.

Then he received a violent push from behind. He plunged forward, tripped with one foot on the sill of the refrigerator doorway, and went in headlong, sprawling on the tiled floor. His clutching hand caught the fold of a woman's skirt. Then, though he remained conscious, everything suddenly turned black.

Bewildered as he was, several seconds pa.s.sed before he realized that the ma.s.sive door had been closed--that he and the girl were prisoners.

CHAPTER XIV

PRISONERS IN THE DARK

Orme's hand still held her skirt.

”Girl!” he whispered.

”Yes. Are you hurt?”

Her voice came to him softly with all its solicitude and sympathy. She knelt, to help him if need be, and her warm, supple hand rested gently on his forehead. He could have remained for a long time as he was, content with her touch, but his good sense told him that their safety demanded action.

”Not hurt at all,” he said, and as she withdrew her hand, he arose.

”Alcatrante caught me off guard,” he explained.

”Yes, I saw him. There wasn't time to warn you.”

”He has been d.o.g.g.i.ng me for an hour,” Orme continued. ”I felt as though he were sitting on my shoulders, like an Old Man of the Sea.”

”I know him of old,” she replied. ”He is never to be trusted.”

”But you--how did you happen to be here, in the Rookery?”

”In the hope of finding you.”

”Finding me?”

”I called up the Pere Marquette about five minutes ago, and the clerk said that you had just been talking to him on the wire, but that he didn't know where you were. Then I remembered that you knew the Wallinghams, and I came to Tom's office to see if he had any idea where you were. I was on my way when I pa.s.sed you in the elevator.”

”Tom and Bessie are at Glenview,” explained Orme.

”Yes, the girl at the inquiry-desk told me. She went to get her hat to leave for the night, and I slipped into this chamber to wait for you.”

”And here we are,” Orme laughed--”papers and all. But I wish it weren't so dark.”

Orme hunted his pockets for a match. He found just one.

”I don't suppose, Girl, that you happen to have such a thing as a match.”