He sat down, and over a couple more cocktails he had Dora quite mollified.
A few moments later Locke entered and slipped quickly into a chair, since he did not wish to be seen. In his hand he carried a newspaper which he now unfolded and held up in front of him so that it hid his face. Next he poked a hole through the center of the sheet so that he could see without being seen.
At this moment, seemingly in all earnestness, Paul and Dora resumed their quarrel, and Dora's strident voice echoed through the café.
"If you throw me down you'd better look out," she bawled.
Paul jumped up, and for a moment it looked as though he would strike her. But he changed his mind, cursed her, and finally stalked out of the café.
Locke folded his paper, paid his bill to the sleepy waiter, and started after Paul. At the entrance he stopped, thought a moment, and then went directly to Dora's table and sat down.
"Why, what are you doing here?" she gasped, in great surprise. "Don't you know that you may be killed?"
"It's a risk that I must run," replied Locke. "But tell me—you tried to kill me once—why?"
"Because I was a fool, controlled by my love for Paul Balcom—the beast! I hate him!"
Dora drank viciously, then, with jealous venom, leaned over to Locke, and asked, "If that girl, Eva Brent, finds out about him, will she throw him over?"