‘Why,’ said she, with a smile, ‘you pull the little trigger thing on top, and then pointing it very low, for it springs up as you fire, you pull the underneath little trigger thing, and it goes off as well as if a man had done it.’
‘And how often have you used it?’ asked Gideon.
‘O, I have not used it yet,’ said the determined young lady; ‘but I know how, and that makes me wonderfully courageous, especially when I barricade my door with a chest of drawers.’
‘I’m awfully glad they are coming back soon,’ said Gideon. ‘This business strikes me as excessively unsafe; if it goes on much longer, I could provide you with a maiden aunt of mine, or my landlady if you preferred.’
‘Lend me an aunt!’ cried Julia. ‘O, what generosity! I begin to think it must have been you that sent the Hercules.’
‘Believe me,’ cried the young man, ‘I admire you too much to send you such an infamous work of art..’
Julia was beginning to reply, when they were both startled by a knocking at the door.
‘O, Mr Forsyth!’
‘Don’t be afraid, my dear girl,’ said Gideon, laying his hand tenderly on her arm.
‘I know it’s the police,’ she whispered. ‘They are coming to complain about the statue.’