Now, as far as Dickson could remember, no one had ever kissed him
except his wife. The light touch of her lips on his forehead was
like the pressing of an electric button which explodes some powerful
charge and alters the face of a countryside. He blushed scarlet;
then he wanted to cry; then he wanted to sing. An immense exhilaration
seized him, and I am certain that if at that moment the serried ranks
of Bolshevy had appeared in the doorway, Dickson would have hurled
himself upon them with a joyful shout.

Cousin Eugenie was earnestly eating chocolates, but Saskia
had other business.

"You will hold the house?" she asked.

"Please God, yes," said Heritage. "I look at it this way.
The time is very near when your three gaolers expect the others,
their masters. They have not troubled you in the past two days as
they threatened, because it was not worth while. But they won't want
to let you out of their sight in the final hours, so they will almost
certainly come here to be on the spot. Our object is to keep them
out and confuse their plans. Somewhere in this neighbourhood,
probably very near, is the man you fear most. If we nonplus the
three watchers, they'll have to revise their policy, and that means
a delay, and every hour's delay is a gain. Mr. McCunn has found out
that the factor Loudon is in the plot, and he has purchase enough,
it seems, to blanket for a time any appeal to the law. But Mr. McCunn
has taken steps to circumvent him, and in twenty-four hours we should
have help here."

"I do not want the help of your law," the girl interrupted.