“Don’t pick your nails,” said Kate.

Eva’s hands separated, and each one clung to an arm of the chair.

Kate stared straight ahead at the green glass shades of her desk lamp. Then she moved so suddenly that Eva jumped and her lips quivered. Kate opened the desk drawer and took out a folded paper. “Here! Go to your room and fix yourself up. Don’t take it all—no, I won’t trust you.” Kate tapped the paper and tore it in two; a little white powder spilled before she folded the ends and passed one to Eva. “Now hurry up! When you come downstairs, tell Ralph I want him in the hall close enough to hear the bell but not the voices. Watch him to see he doesn’t creep up. If he hears the bell—no, tell him—no, let him do it his own way. After that bring Mr. Adam Trask to me.”

“Will you be all right, Miss Kate?”

Kate looked at her until she turned away. Kate called after her, “You can have the other half as soon as he goes. Now hurry up.”

After the door had closed Kate opened the right-hand drawer of her desk and took out a revolver with a short barrel. She swung the cylinder sideways and looked at the cartridges, snapped it shut and put it on her desk, and laid a sheet of paper over it. She turned off one of the lights and settled back in her chair. She clasped her hands on the desk in front of her.

When the knock came on the door she called, “Come in,” hardly moving her lips.

Eva’s eyes were wet, and she was relaxed. “Here he is,” she said and closed the door behind Adam.

He glanced quickly about before he saw Kate sitting so quietly behind the desk. He stared at her, and then he moved slowly toward her.

Her hands unclasped and her right hand moved toward the paper. Her eyes, cold and expressionless, remained on his eyes.

Adam saw her hair, her scar, her lips, her creping throat, her arms and shoulders and flat breasts. He sighed deeply.

Kate’s hand shook a little. She said, “What do you want?”

Adam sat down in the straight chair beside the desk. He wanted to shout with relief, but he said, “Nothing now. I just wanted to see you. Sam Hamilton told me you were here.”

The moment he sat down the shake went out of her hand. “Hadn’t you heard before?”

“No,” he said. “I hadn’t heard. It made me a little crazy at first, but now I’m all right.”

Kate relaxed and her mouth smiled and her little teeth showed, the long canines sharp and white. She said, “You frightened me.”

“Why?”

“Well, I didn’t know what you’d do.”

“Neither did I,” said Adam, and he continued to stare at her as though she were not alive.

“I expected you for a long time, and when you didn’t come I guess I forgot you.”