all the more delectable because helpless.
Here was a revenge beyond Moran's wildest dreams. To her he appeared the
incarnation of evil, disheveled, mud-splashed and sweaty, as his puffed
and blood-shot eyes feasted on her attractiveness.

"Good morning!" He came into the room and closed the door. "I didn't
expect to find you, but since you're here, I'll stop long enough to
return your visit of the other night. That's courteous, ain't it?"

Dorothy gulped down the lump in her throat, but made no reply. Realizing
the importance of a show of bravery, she was fighting to conquer her
panic.

"You're sure a good-looking kid," he went on, trying to approach her;
but she put the width of the bed between him and herself. "Each time I
see you, you're better looking than you were the last time. Say, that
last time, we were talking some about a kiss, weren't we, when we were
interrupted?"

"Mr. Wade may come in at any moment," Dorothy lied desperately, having
found her tongue at last. "You'd better not let him find you here."

"I shouldn't mind," Moran said nonchalantly. "Fact is, on my way out of
the country, I thought I'd pay a farewell call on my good friend, Wade.
I'm real sorry he ain't here--and then again I'm not. I'll--I'll leave
my visiting card for him, anyhow." He chuckled, a nasty, throaty,
mirthless chuckle that sent chills up and down the girl's spine. "Say,
what's the matter with giving me that kiss now? There's nobody around to
interrupt us this time."

Dorothy shuddered, for already she had divined what was in his mind. The
avid gleam in his eyes had warned her that he would not restrain himself
for long, and summoning all her strength and courage, she prepared to
meet the fearful crisis she must face.

"Will you please go?"

"No!" Moran chuckled again, and stepped toward her. "Will you come to me
now, or shall I go after you?"

"You brute! You coward!" she cried, when she found herself, after a
desperate struggle, held firmly in his grasp.

She screamed, then, at the top of her lung power until his hand fell
firmly across her mouth, and she could only struggle with the mad
strength of desperation. Her muscles could offer him no effective
resistance, although for a moment the sudden fury of her attack drove
him back, big though he was; but it was only for a moment. It gave her a
chance to scream once more; then, closing in upon her, he seized her
again in his ape-like embrace. She fought like a cornere