"Jump, oh, jump, Mr. Barker!" she whispered in a glow of terror, "hurry! It is somebody!"
He pointed silently to the ground below, and with her heart pounding heavily she peered over the sill. Directly below them crouched a Great Dane, brindled, enormous, one eye fixed sternly on the window.
The soft steps paused: perhaps she had imagined them! Perhaps, if they kept quite still, that quaking pair, perhaps.... The man breathed like a drowning swimmer; it seemed to Caroline she must scream.
The door flew open.
"Look out, there—it's loaded!" the voice came sharp as a cracked whip.
Caroline gave a shriek of joy.
"Why, it's Lindsay!" she cried, "it's just Cousin Lindsay!"
A tall, powerful young man came in behind a leveled revolver.
"Car—what—be still, there!" he gasped, steadying the weapon. The man stood motionless, his eyes on the ground.
"It's all right—I never carried a gun in my life," he said quietly.