Cliff was rising now. Arline could see his tense gaze directed toward the man in black. Cliff’s lips were moving.
“The Shadow!” he was saying. “The Shadow!”
A low, soft laugh came from the man in black. It was the strangest laugh that Arline had ever heard. It chilled her; it frightened her; for it carried a tone of menace.
Yet, instinctively, she knew that the laugh was one of triumph — that the man in black had come as a friend. She knew that she and Cliff had been saved — Cliff from Killer Durgan’s gun; she from any fate the brutal murderer might have intended for her.
The man in black stood silently, while Cliff staggered to his feet. He watched the young man walk unsteadily across the room, stepping carefully to avoid the bodies that lay in his path.
He saw Arline rise to meet Cliff. Again The Shadow laughed. Suddenly, he turned and disappeared through the doorway.
Cliff had fully regained his senses. The back of his head was aching; but he had one desire that made him forget the pain. He must take Arline from this room of horror!
He steadied the girl with his arm. Together, they made their way to the hall. Before them lay an open door that led to a stairway. They followed the path ahead. They reached a side alley and walked through to the street beyond. Cliff hailed a cab.
Arline leaned against him as they rode toward her home. The girl was weak, but happy. She had found the man she loved! He had come to rescue her, against great odds!
Cliff, too, was happy, for he knew that the past was understood. He was free — not only from prison walls, but from the memory of the crime that had not been his own.