Fact is, I 'm anxious to shield your reputation, you know." He looked about carelessly, his glance settling on the open doors of the Gayety.

"Don't strike me this is exactly the sort of place for one of your moral respectability to be discovered in.
Lord! but what would the old man or that infernal prig of a brother of yours say, if they could only see you now?
A monologue artist at the Gayety was bad enough, but this, this is the limit." There was a flash of something white and glittering within six inches of his face, a sharp click, and an eye looked directly into his own across a short steel barrel.
"Go!" The word was like the spat of a bullet.
"But, Lizzie--" "Go, you cur! or, as God is my witness, if you stay I'll kill you!" With a sharp dig of the spur his horse sprang half-way across the road, a black, prancing shadow against the glare of light.

She saw the rider fling up one arm, and bring down the stinging quirt on the animal's flank; the next instant, with a bound, they were swallowed up in the darkness.

A moment she leaned against the shack, nerveless, half fainting from reaction, her face deathly white.

Then she inhaled a long, deep breath, gathered her skirts closely within one hand, and plunged boldly into the black alley..