Kitty gasped, but she did not cry out.

The five days' growth of blondish stubble, the discoloured eye--for all the orb itself was brilliant--and the hawky nose combined to send through her the first great thrill of danger she had ever known.
Slowly she backed away from the window.

The man outside immediately extended his hands with a gesture that a child would have understood.
Supplication.

Kitty paused, naturally.

But did the man mean it?
Might it not be some trick to lure her into opening the window?
And what was he doing outside there anyhow?
Her mind, freed from the initial hypnosis of the encounter, began to work quickly.