The girl looked at him and said, "No!" He wondered why extreme agitation made the eyes of some women so limpid and bright. "Who is here besides yourself?" By this time his pursuit had driven her to the end of the hall, and she remained there with her back to the wall and her hands still behind her. When she answered this question, she did not look at him but down at the floor. She cleared her voice and then said, "There is no one here." "No one?" She lifted her eyes to him in that appeal that the human being must make even to falling trees, crashing bowlders, the sea in a storm, and said, "No, no, there is no one here." He could plainly see her tremble. Of a sudden he bethought him that she continually kept her hands behind her. As he recalled her air when first discovered, he remembered she appeared precisely as a child detected at one of the crimes of childhood. Moreover, she had always backed away from him. He thought now that she was concealing something which was an evidence of the presence of the enemy in the house. "What are you holding behind you?" he said suddenly. She gave a little quick moan, as if some grim hand had throttled her. "What are you holding behind you?" "Oh, nothing--please. I am not holding anything behind me; indeed I'm not." "Very well. Hold your hands out in front of you, then." "Oh, indeed, I'm not holding anything behind me. Indeed, I'm not." "Well," he began. Then he paused, and remained for a moment dubious. Finally, he laughed. "Well, I shall have my men search the house, anyhow. I'm sorry to trouble you, but I feel sure that there is some one here whom we want." He turned to the corporal, who with the other men was gaping quietly in at the door, and said, "Jones, go through the house." As for himself, he remained planted in front of the girl, for she evidently did not dare to move and allow him to see what she held so carefully behind her back. So she was his prisoner. The men rummaged around on the ground floor of the house. Sometimes the captain called to them, "Try that closet," "Is there any cellar?" But they found no one, and at last they went trooping toward the stairs which led to the second floor. But at this movement on the part of the men the girl uttered a cry--a cry of such fright and appeal that the men paused. "Oh, don't go up there! Please don't go up there!--ple--ease! There is no one there! Indeed--indeed there is not! Oh, ple--ease!" "Go on, Jones," said the captain calmly. The obedient corporal made a preliminary step, and the girl bounded toward the stairs with another cry. As she passed him, the captain caught sight of that which she had concealed behind her back, and which she had forgotten in this supreme moment. It was a pistol.