"But are you strong enough to venture on the streets?"
"Rot! Dash it all, I'm no mollycoddle! All nonsense to keep me pinned in
like this. Will you go with me--be my guide?"
"Yes!" She shot out the word and crossed the Rubicon before reason
could begin to lecture. Besides, wasn't reason treating her shabbily in
withholding the key to the riddle? "Johnny Two-Hawks, I will go as far
as Harlem if you want me to."
"Johnny Two-Hawks!" He laughed joyously, then kissed her hands. But he
had to pay for this bending--a stab that filled his eyes with flying
sparks. He must remember, once out of doors, not to stoop quickly. "I
say, you're the jolliest girl I ever met! Just the two of us, what?"
"The way you speak English is wonderful!"
"Simple enough to explain. Had an English nurse from the beginning.
Spoke English and Italian before I spoke Russian."
He seized the wooden mallet and beat the Burmese gong--a flat piece of
brass cut in the shape of a bell. The clear, whirring vibrations filled
the room. Long before these spent themselves Kuroki appeared on the
threshold. He bobbed.
"Kuroki, Miss Conover is dining here with me to-night. Seven o'clock
sharp. The best you have in the larder."
"Yes, sair. You are going out, sair?"
"For a bit of fresh air."
"And I am going with him, Kuroki," said Kitty. Kuroki bobbed again.
"Dinner at seven, sair." Another bob, and he returned to the kitchen,
smiling. The girl was free to come and go, of course, but the ancient
enemy of Nippon would not pass the elevator door. Let him find that out
for himself.
When the elevator arrived the boy did not open the door. He noted the
derby on Hawksley's head.
"I can take you down, Miss Conover, but I cannot take Mr. Hawksley. When
the boss gives me an order I obey it--if I possibly can. On the day the
boss tells me you can go strolling, I'll give you the key to the city.
Until then, nix! No use arguing, Mr. Hawksley."
"I shan't argue," replied Hawksley, meekly. "I am really a prisoner,
then?"
"For your own good, sir. Do you wish to go down, Miss Conover?"
"No."
The boy swung the lever, and the car dropped from sight.
"I'm sorry," said Kitty.
Hawksley smiled and laid a finger on his lips. "I wanted to know," he
whispered. "There's another way down from this Matterhorn. Come with
me. Off the living room is a storeroom. I found the key in the lock the
other day and investigated. I still have the key. Now, then, there's
a door that gives to the main loft. At the other end is the stairhead.
There is a door at the foot of the first flight down. We can jolly well
leave this way, but we shall have to return by the lift. That bally
young ruffian can't refuse to carry us up, y' know!"