inned. "Not yet. You'll stay up here till the chief gives
the word. And I got to ask you to step back into your room, and step
quick." His voice grew harsh, and he came closer. "He told me straight,
you're not to come out."

Caroline had shrunk back, and she was on the verge of turning when the
arm of Ruth was passed strongly around her shoulders and stayed her.

"She's going with me," she told John Mark's bulldog. "Does that make a
difference to you?"

He ducked his head and grinned feebly in his anxiety. "Sure it makes a
difference. You go where you want, any time you want, but this--"

"I say she's going with me, and I'm responsible for her."

She urged Caroline forward, and the latter made a step, only to find
that she was directly confronted by the guard.

"I got my orders," he said desperately to Ruth.

"Do you know who I am?" she asked hotly.

"I know who you are," he answered, "and, believe me, I would not start
bothering you none, but I got to keep this lady back. I got the orders."

"They're old orders," insisted Ruth Tolliver, "and they have been
changed."

"Not to my knowing," replied the other, less certain in his manner.

Ruth seized the critical moment to say: "Walk on, Caroline. If he blocks
your way--" She did not need to finish the sentence, for, as Caroline
started on, the guard slunk sullenly to one side of the corridor.

"It ain't my doings," he said. "But they got two bosses in this joint,
and one of them is a girl. How can a gent have any idea which way he
ought to step in a pinch? Go on, Miss Smith, but you'll be answered
for!"

They hardly heard the last of these words, as they turned down the
stairway, hurrying, but not fast enough to excite the suspicion of the
man behind them.

"Oh, Ruth," whispered Caroline Smith. "Oh, Ruth!"

"It was close," said Ruth Tolliver, "but we're through. And, now that
I'm about to leave it, I realize how I've hated this life all these
years. I'll never stop thanking you for waking me up to it, Caroline."

They reached the floor of the lower hall, and a strange thought came to
Ruth. She had hurried home to execute the bidding of John Mark. She had
left it, obeying the bidding of Ronicky Doone.

They scurried to the front door. As they opened it the sharp gust of
night air blew in on them, and they heard the sound of a man running up
the steps. In a moment the dim hall light showed on the slender form and
the pale face of John Mark standing befor