"Do you mean to let me in?" said Storms, almost coaxingly. "I want to have a word with the old man."
Ruth stood aside. She dared not oppose him; but when free to pass, he hesitated, and a look of nervous anxiety came over his features.
"The old man doesn't speak much; hasn't said how it all happened, ha?"
"He has said nothing about it," answered Ruth, struck with new terror.
The look of cool audacity came back to her enemy's face, and, without more ceremony, he pushed his way into the wounded man's room.
CHAPTER XXVI.
TRUE AS STEEL.
JESSUP was lying with his eyes closed, and his mouth firmly compressed, as if in pain. But the tread of heavy feet on the floor aroused him, and he opened his eyes in languid wonder. The sight of Storms brought slow fire to his eyes.
"Is it you—you?" he whispered, sharply.