d from its tension. She must have come closer to me. Delighted by
so much success attained and intrigued by the novelty of the adventure,
I moved slightly, stretching my free arm in the direction of the
flashlight.

"I am not a difficult person," I essayed encouragement. "Nor too dull, I
hope, to understand a mistake or a necessity. Nor am I affiliated with
the police! Permit me----"

I halted abruptly. A cool edge of metal had been laid across the wrist
of my groping hand. As the hand came to rest, palm uppermost, I could
feel, or imagined I could feel my pulse beating steadily against the
menacing pressure of the blade. The warning was eloquent and sufficient;
I moved no further toward my flashlight. Of course, if I had lifted my
right hand from its guard of the braid, I could easily have pinioned the
arm which poised the knife before I suffered much harm. But I might have
lost my captive in the attempt; an event for which I was not ready, yet.

"Check," I admitted. "Although, it is rather near a stalemate for us
both, isn't it?"

The knife pressed closer, suggestively.

"No," I dissented with the mute argument. "I think not. I do not believe
you could do it; not in cold blood, anyway!"

"You do not know," insisted the closer pressing blade, as if with a
tongue.

"No, I do not know," I translated aloud. "But I am confident enough to
chance it. What reason have you for desperate action? I would not harm
you. Have I not a right to curiosity? This is my house, you know. Or
perhaps you did not know that?"

A sigh stirred the silence, blending with the ceaseless whisper of the
rain that had recommenced through the night. The braid did not move in
my right hand, nor did the blade touching my left.

"Speak!" I begged, with an abrupt urgency that surprised myself. "You
are the invader. Why? What would you have from me? If I am to let you
go, at least speak to me, first! This is--uncanny."

"There is magic in the third time of asking," came a breathed, just
audible whisper. "Yet, be warned; call not to you that which you may
neither hold nor forbid."

"But I do call--if that will make you speak to me," I returned, my
pulses tingling triumph. "Although, as to not holding you----"

"You fancy you hold me? It is not you who are master of this moment, but
I who am its mistress."

Her voice had gained in strength; a soft voice, yet not weak, used with
a delicate deliberation that gave her speech the effect of being