"You don't say!" he cried. "I took you for some darned crook, but
now I remember you perfectly. If you hadn't've spoke up slick I'd
have bu'st your face in, sonny. I would, sure! Come right in, and
have a drink to show there's - Jeehoshaphat!"
The secretary had turned the latch-key in the door, only to be
hauled back by the collar as the door stood open, and the light from
the inner room was seen streaming upon the banisters at the foot of
the narrow stairs.
"A light in my den," said Maguire in a mighty whisper, "and the
blamed door open, though the key's in my pocket and we left it
locked! Talk about crooks, eh? Holy smoke, how I hope we've
landed one alive! You ladies and gentlemen, lay round where you
are, while I see."
And the hulking figure advanced on tiptoe, like a performing
elephant, until just at the open door, when for a second we saw his
left revolving like a piston and his head thrown back at its
fighting angle. But in another second his fists were hands again,
and Maguire was rubbing them together as he stood shaking with
laughter in the light of the open door.
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