The Hunted Woman by James Oliver Curwood
page 12 of 316 (03%)
page 12 of 316 (03%)
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What he expected soon came. It was not the usual giggling, the usual exchange of badinage and coarse jest beyond the closed curtains. Quade did not come out rubbing his huge hands, his face crinkling with a sort of exultant satisfaction. The girl preceded him. She flung the curtains aside and stood there for a moment, her face flaming like fire, her blue eyes filled with the flash of lightning. She came down the single step. Quade followed her. He put out a hand. "Don't take offence, girly," he expostulated. "Look here--ain't it reasonable to s'pose----" He got no farther. The man in the door had advanced, placing himself at the girl's side. His voice was low and unexcited. "You have made a mistake?" he said. She took him in at a glance--his clean-cut, strangely attractive face, his slim build, the clear and steady gray of his eyes. "Yes, I have made a mistake--a terrible mistake!" "I tell you it ain't fair to take offence," Quade went on. "Now, look here----" In his hand was a roll of bills. The girl did not know that a man could strike as quickly and with as terrific effect as the gray-eyed stranger struck then. There was one blow, and Quade went down limply. It was so sudden that he had her outside before she realized what had happened. |
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