'Let me pass. I don't want
any fuss. I want to go. There's more in this flat than I bargained for.
Let me pass.'
'Give me that revolver,' Polycarp smoothly demanded.
'Curse it!' cried the man. 'I'll give it you! Hands up, you old fool! Do
you think I'm here for fun?'
And he raised the revolver.
'I shall not put my hands up.'
'I'll count five,' said the man grimly, 'and if you don't--'
'Count.'
'One!... two!... three! Can't you see I mean it?'
Hugo perceived plainly the murderous, wild look on the man's face. He
knew what it was to feel murderous. He knew that in a fit of homicide
all considerations of prudence, all care for the future, vanish away,
that the mind is utterly monopolized by the obsession of the one single
desire.
Polycarp disdainfully sneered:
'Four!'
Hugo could withstand the strain no more. He bounded out from his
concealment, and snatched the revolver from the man's hand.
'I forgot you,' growled the man, glancing at him, disgusted.
And so saying he dashed the candle in Polycarp's face and knocked him
violently against Hugo. Both Hugo and Polycarp fell to the ground. The
man made a leap for the door, and in a second had fled, banging it after
him. Hugo and Polycarp rose with stiff movements.
Pages:
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159