There was a tall Oriental screen before the fire-place, and the men placed this between the bed and their prisoner, then retired behind it themselves to give the exhausted girl time to recover herself.
Mollie sipped a little of the wine and soon found her strength returning, and with it and the friendly presence of Nannette, much of her habitual self-possession.
"Nannette, pray, get me a shawl or dressing-sack," she whispered to the girl. The maid whisked into her own room and returned almost immediately with a pretty wrapper of her own, and into which she deftly assisted Mollie, who then signified her readiness to talk with the officers, while she seated herself in a chair outside the screen and motioned Nannette to another near her.
She briefly related what had occurred from the moment when she had heard the clock strike two until the appearance of the officers. Her language was simple and unassuming, but the story produced a marked impression upon her hearers.
Nannette became greatly excited during the recital, but protested that she had not heard a sound until Miss Heatherford called out to the officers to come up-stairs, when she hurriedly threw on her robe and came to her, fearing she might be ill or the house afire.
The policemen regarded the fair narrator with undisguised admiration, as she told how she had softly taken possession of the revolver and cocked it beneath the bed-clothing before turning on the lights.
"It was a mighty plucky thing to do," one of them remarked.
"I sincerely hope that I shall not have to testify against this man at a public trial," said Mollie anxiously.
The officers saw that she was greatly distressed in view of such a possibility, and their sympathies were with her.
"Well, miss, I can't say for certain about that. I reckon you'll have to appear and give evidence; but perhaps a private examination can be arranged, and if the reporters don't get hold of it you'll be all right. I'm sure I, for one, would be glad to oblige a lady who has shown more grit than many a man would have done in such a tight place," one of the men observed in the most respectful manner.