"I knew it must be you!"
Although they had parted in bitterness and anger she seemed to have forgotten it, for her hand reached out and found his in the black void of the night.
For a long minute they stood silently together, then a pleading paw raked at her knee, and Demon's eyes glistened up to her in reproachful greeting. With a murmured laugh that was half a sob Betty released her hand and stooping, patted the great shaggy head.
"You had my note?" Ross's tone was breathless. "I thought that fellow was to be trusted! The dog came to me a half-hour ago but he remembered my voice and I kept him here for fear he would mistake you in the dark and attack you. You must listen to me. Whatever you think of me, whether you are still resentful or not makes no difference now. You are in frightful danger and you must escape from these people while you can. Come! We have no time to lose. There is a car waiting around the corner and your absence from the house may be discovered at any moment."
Betty slowly drew back.
"Come where?" she asked. "My place is here."
"Here? In this den of criminals? Here to wait until the house is surrounded and you are captured with the rest to face the hideous ignominy of a trial? Do you know what you are guilty of in the eyes of the law? Not only compounding a felony but being accessory after the fact to a murder! Not the most adroit counsel could save you from imprisonment, if not worse!"
"Murder!" Betty's voice was a mere whisper.
"Do you know that a man was done to death beneath that roof even while it sheltered you? That the police and every detective in the country have been moving heaven and earth to find a clue to his murderers and a trail has been picked up which leads unmistakably here? Even if you know nothing about it you must have seen it in the papers; they've been full of the case for nearly three weeks, ever since the body was found—"
"I know." She spoke in unguarded haste. "You mean Breckinridge. I saw his picture in a paper which I bought downtown and I recognized him—"