The Golden Slipper : and other problems for Violet Strange by Anna Katharine Green
page 33 of 358 (09%)
page 33 of 358 (09%)
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face white as the linen she sought to hide.
The officer demurred no longer. In another instant he was trying the door at which she was again pointing. It was locked. Glancing back at the woman, now cowering almost to the floor, he pounded at the door and asked the man inside to open. No answer came back. With a sharp turn he glanced again at the wife. "You say that your husband is in this room?" She nodded, gasping faintly, "And the child!" He turned back, listened, then beckoned to Mr. Saunders. "We shall have to break our way in," said he. "Put your shoulder well to the door. Now!" The hinges of the door creaked; the lock gave way (this special officer weighed two hundred and seventy-five, as he found out, next day), and a prolonged and sweeping crash told the rest. Mrs. Hammond gave a low cry; and, straining forward from where she crouched in terror on the floor, searched the faces of the two men for some hint of what they saw in the dimly-lighted space beyond. Something dreadful, something which made Mr. |
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