anywhere else. And all of a sudden--tramp, tramp, tramp--I heard
the cop's footsteps.

He stopped over there by the swinging electric light above the
gate. I crouched down behind the iron bench.

And my coat caught a twig on a bush and its crack--ck was like a
yell.

I thought I'd die. I thought I'd scream. I thought I'd run.
I thought I'd faint. But I didn't--for there, asleep on a rug that
some one had forgotten to take in, was the house cat. I gave her
a quick slap, and she flew out and across the path like a flash.

The cop watched her, his hand on the gate, and passed on.

Mag Monahan, if Tom had come out that minute without a bean and
gone home with me, I'd been so relieved I'd never have tried
again. But he didn't come. Nothing happened. Nights and nights
and nights went by, and the stillness began to sound again. My
throat went choking mad. I began to shiver, and I reached for the
rug the cat had lain on.

Funny, how some things strike you! This was Latimer's rug. I had
noticed it that evening--a warm, soft, mottled green that looked
like silk and fur mixed. I could see the way his long, white
hands looked on it, and as I touched it I could hear his voice--


Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make,