“Yes,” answered Ruth Tolliver, “of course he is.”

“And you’d trust him?”

“To the end of the world.  But to leave—­”

“Ruth, you’ve kept cobwebs before your eyes so long that you don’t see what’s happening around you.  John Mark hypnotizes you.  He makes you think that the whole world is bad, that we are simply making capital out of our crimes.  As a matter of fact, the cold truth is that he has made me a thief, Ruth, and he has made you something almost as bad—­a gambler!”

The follower had become the leader, and she was urging Ruth Tolliver slowly to the door.  Ruth was protesting—­she could not throw herself on the kindness of Ronicky Doone—­it could not be done.  It would be literally throwing herself at his head.  But here the door opened, and she allowed herself to be led out into the hall.  They had not made more than half a dozen steps down its dim length when the guard hurried toward them.

“Talk to him,” whispered Caroline Smith.  “He’s come to stop me, and you’re the only person who can make him let me pass on!”

The guard hurriedly came up to them.  “Sorry,” he said.  “Got an idea you’re going downstairs, Miss Smith.”

“Yes,” she said faintly.

The fellow grinned.  “Not yet.  You’ll stay up here till the chief gives the word.  And I got to ask you to step back into your room, and step quick.”  His voice grew harsh, and he came closer.  “He told me straight, you’re not to come out.”

Caroline had shrunk back, and she was on the verge of turning when the arm of Ruth was passed strongly around her shoulders and stayed her.

“She’s going with me,” she told John Mark’s bulldog.  “Does that make a difference to you?”

He ducked his head and grinned feebly in his anxiety.  “Sure it makes a difference.  You go where you want, any time you want, but this—­”

“I say she’s going with me, and I’m responsible for her.”

She urged Caroline forward, and the latter made a step, only to find that she was directly confronted by the guard.

“I got my orders,” he said desperately to Ruth.

“Do you know who I am?” she asked hotly.

“I know who you are,” he answered, “and, believe me, I would not start bothering you none, but I got to keep this lady back.  I got the orders.”

“They’re old orders,” insisted Ruth Tolliver, “and they have been changed.”

“Not to my knowing,” replied the other, less certain in his manner.

Ruth seized the critical moment to say:  “Walk on, Caroline.  If he blocks your way—­” She did not need to finish the sentence, for, as Caroline started on, the guard slunk sullenly to one side of the corridor.

“It ain’t my doings,” he said.  “But they got two bosses in this joint, and one of them is a girl.  How can a gent have any idea which way he ought to step in a pinch?  Go on, Miss Smith, but you’ll be answered for!”