Quickly she unlocked the door and stepped back.
For a moment nothing happened. Then Ma Harper pushed it open, just as she had expected.
“Now I’ll get you!” she screamed, springing at Penny.
Penny kept the stocking behind her back. “I hate to do this,” she thought, “but she’s asking for it!”
As Ma reached out to seize her, she swung the stocking. The encased cake of soap cut a neat arc through the air and clipped the woman sharply on the head.
More startled than hurt, she stumbled backwards and collapsed into the bathtub.
Pausing only long enough to see that Ma was not really injured, Penny made a dash for safety. But her escape was cut off.
Sweeper Joe and Clayton the gateman were just entering the front door of the living room, armed with tools to use in taking down the washroom door.
Seeing Penny, they again blocked the exit. Desperate, she ran in the only possible direction—to the balcony overlooking the river.
The docks were directly beneath the house, and waves lapped the posts of the two-story porch. It was at least a fifteen-foot drop and the water was shallow. But Penny had no time to calculate the risk.