She shivered from head to foot. She put her two hands to her throat
where just now the point of the knife had been.
"Quick!" said Kendric.
She rose in haste. A vertigo was upon her like that dizzy weakness of
one very sick, seeking prematurely to rise from bed. She had
experienced a shock from which she could rally only gradually; she
looked broken. Her eyes appeared to see nothing about her but stared
off into the distance through a veil of abstraction.
"We will have to go," she said tonelessly. "There is no other way."
They passed by the inert figure on the floor and out, Kendric with his
left hand always on her arm. Again the knife was hidden under his
coat, but his fingers did not release it.
"Quick," he said again.
So Zoraida, obedient in this strange new mood governing her, making no
effort to shake off his hand having no thought to gainsay him,
hastened. In perhaps five minutes they were unlocking the last door,
and Kendric heard beyond the whining of the puma. Kendric had had time
for thought during this brief interval which had seemed much longer;
for the present both his safety and Betty's would undoubtedly depend
upon his keeping Zoraida with him. So now, as he flung open the door,
he carried Zoraida along into the room.
At first he did not see the cat lying close to the cage; he saw only
Betty. A little color had come back into her cheeks; he saw the look
in her eyes before it changed and knew that to Betty had come the time
when hope is given up and when death is faced.
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