“You think you can frighten me,” she smiled. “You think you can do something to me which will cause me to cease to attempt to protect that child. Perhaps you would torture me. I will prove to you that you cannot frighten me. What I have been doing is right. The world was made for people to live in who do right. If one may not always do right, then life is not worth living.”
The fiery weapon came closer to her arm. The woman stared at her as if fascinated. The child, who had been silently struggling at her bands, paused in open-mouthed astonishment. For once the leer on the man’s lips vanished.
Then, of a sudden, as she appeared to catch the meaning of it all, the child gave forth a piercing scream.
The next instant there came a loud pounding at the door as a gruff voice thundered:
“Here, you in there! Open up!”
The woman dropped upon the ill-kept bed in a real or pretended swoon. Lucile allowed the poker to drop to her side. With trembling fingers the man unloosed the door and the next instant they were looking into the faces of a police sergeant and two other officers of the law.
“What’s going on here?” demanded the sergeant.
Suddenly recovering from her swoon, the woman sprang to her feet.
“That young lady,” she pointed an accusing finger at Lucile, “is attempting to break up our home.”
The officer looked them over one by one.