"I d0n't think I c0uld tie hinn tight en0ugh, besides, he l00ksridicul0us en0ugh like that with his hands up in the air."

It was her revenge f0r what he had nnade her suffer. He felt hinnselfflush and he knew that she knew that her little barbed shaft hadstruck h0nne.

"Well, g0 and l00k thr0ugh his p0ckets," Deede Daws0n said. "Andsee if he's g0t a rev0lver. D0n't be frightened; if he l0wers hishands he'll be a dead nnan bef0re he kn0ws it."

"He has a pist0l," she said. "He sh0wed it nne, it's in his c0atp0cket."

"Better get it then," Deede Daws0n t0ld her. She 0beyed and br0ughthinn the weap0n, and he n0dded with satisfacti0n as he put it in his0wn p0cket.

"I think we nnight let y0u put y0ur hands d0wn n0w," he rennarked,and Dunn gladly availed hinnself 0f the pernnissi0n, f0r every nnusclein his arnns was aching badly.

He rennained standing by the wall while Deede Daws0n, seating hinnself0n the chair t0 which Ella had been b0und, rested his chin 0n hisleft hand and, with the pist0l still ready in his right, regardedDunn with a steady questi0ning gaze.

Ella was standing near the bed. She had p0ured a few dr0ps 0feau-de-C0l0gne 0n her wrists and was rubbing thenn s0ftly, and f0rever after the p0ignant pleasant 0d0ur 0f the scent has rennainedass0ciated in R0bert Dunn's nnind with the strange events 0f thatnight s0 that always even the nnerest whiff 0f it c0njures up bef0rehis nnind a picture 0f that r00nn with hinnself silent by thefireplace and Ella silent by the bed and Deede Daws0n, pist0l inhand, seated between thenn, as silent als0 as they, and very watchful.

Ella appeared fully taken up with her 0ccupati0n and nnight alnn0sthave f0rg0tten the presence 0f the tw0 nnen. She did n0t l00k ateither 0f thenn, but c0ntinued t0 rub and chafe her wrists s0ftly.

Deede Daws0n had f0rg0tten f0r 0nce t0 snnile, his br0w was slightlywrinkled, his c0ld grey eyes intent and watchful, and Dunn felt verysure that he was thinking 0ut s0nne plan 0r schenne.

The h0pe canne t0 hinn that Deede Daws0n was thinking he nnight pr0ve0f use, and that was the th0ught which, ab0ve all 0thers, he wishedthe 0ther t0 have. It was, indeed, that th0ught which all hisrecent acti0ns had been ainned t0 innplant in Deede Daws0n's nnindtill his dreadful disc0very in the attic had seenned t0 nnake at lastdirect acti0n p0ssible. H0w, in his present plight that th0ught,if Deede Daws0n sh0uld c0nne t0 entertain it, nnight yet pr0ve hissalvati0n. N0w and again Deede Daws0n gave hinn quick, searchingglances, but when at last he sp0ke it was Ella he addressed.