“ ’Twas a glorious fight, sor,” breathed the delighted Larry. “But he’s marked you pretty bad. Come away now and wash yer face, sor. ’Tis no sight for a lady!” Then I realized that the man had got home some pretty fair blows before he went under. He was no coward; I’ll say that for him.
Natalie followed us into the bathroom. She seemed quite recovered and insisted upon washing my face for me, by the light of Larry’s electric torch—a ridiculous proceeding, none the less sweet for that, and one which relieved my mind a good deal. She had not been badly ill-treated if she could recover so quickly.
It was a risk remaining there, but I could not go into the street covered with blood as I was and the risk had to be taken. Besides, it did not seem probable that more of them would turn up that night.
“Tell me everything, Natalie,” I begged, as she bathed my face and hands.
“That was all, Jack,” she whispered. “They did not ill-treat me very much. But some one was watching me every minute and they would not even let me feed myself. What do you suppose they wanted with me? Do you think they were going to hold me to ransom? I haven’t much money. And what happened to Mrs. Fawcette? Is this her house?”
“Yes, this is her house. She’s in the thing, Natalie. If I had only been sure, I could have warned you more fully. But I didn’t like that drugged tea from the start. Tell me, you say they would not let you feed yourself?”
“No. They kept my hands tied. They said they did not want me to kill myself with the knife. That scared me more than anything. Why should I kill myself, Jack?”
I lowered my eyes to hide the red mist that swam in them. I found myself aching to get back to the other two specimens of Russian manhood and give them a dose of the same medicine. I turned away toward where they lay and Larry sensed my thought, for he caught at my arm. “Not now, sor,” he whispered; “we must get the gyurl out av ut, remember.”
I was ashamed and stood waiting quietly until they had finished with my face and hands. Then Larry went out with a muttered word or two about seeing if the coast was clear. I caught Natalie’s hand in mine and kissed it. “Thank God, we found you,” I whispered.
There was a thistle-down touch on my hair, and I looked up to find the lovely parted lips close to mine and the long lashes slowly sinking over the lovely eyes.