He leaned toward her, looking very severe. He still held her hand firmly within his grasp.
“Be careful,” she warned. “Father may awaken.”
“But not in time to save you from your punishment,” he whispered, and then he kissed her.
They sat by the window and chatted a long time, while Mr. Burrage dozed in his chair.
Finally there came the sound of a stir in the hall and on the stairs. Excited voices were heard; a man’s and a woman’s.
“It is the landlady,” said Inza. “She seems to be having trouble with somebody. I never heard anything like that in this house before.”
“I tell you I knows the gent,” asserted the voice of a man; a voice which sounded familiar to Frank. “It is a matter of business, and I will see ’im. I hobserved ’im a-settin’ at the window.”
“Wait till I speak to him,” entreated the woman. “If he knows you, it is likely he will see you.”
“I am not habsolutely certain of that, ma’am. It is a matter of business, ma’am—werry important. I will go right hin.”
And then, for all of the protests of the landlady, a man entered the room, flinging open the door with no little violence.