“Tell O’Leary to keep him until daylight, and then let him go,” she said in a whisper.
The day was struggling through the curtains of the night as she came back. Dangerfield was waiting, his hand running nervously over the shawl she had thrown over him. When she came to his side he seized her hand instantly with a sigh of content and turned and looked at her with distraught eyes.
“Keep me quiet,” he said, and his hand closed over hers in a tighter dependence. “Try to keep me quiet.”
She looked down at him with her slow-breaking smile and, though the strain of the night had left her worn with fatigue, never had she felt such a complete sensation of happiness.
XVIII
At daybreak, King O’Leary loosened the ropes which held Doctor Fortier and signed to him to follow.
“Not to the police-station, I presume,” said the other, smiling.
“If I had my way you would,” said O’Leary, with bad grace, for the doctor’s cool assurance had not ceased to irritate him.