And the young man, without answering, availed himself of the invitation; and the door was shut. Max stared down at the closed door in perplexity and dismay. In spite of all his adventures in that very doubtful house, or, perhaps, because of them, his interest in Carrie, of the blue eyes and the wonderful voice, was as strong as ever. Hovering between trust and mistrust, he told himself at this point that she was nothing in the world but the thieves' decoy he had at first suspected. But in that case, why had he himself not been robbed? He wore a valuable watch; he had gold and notes in his purse. And no attempt had been made to relieve him of either the one or the other. And the foolish fellow began to consider and to weigh one thing with the other, and to become more and more eager to see the girl again if it were only to upbraid her for her deceit, until he ended by slipping down to the ground, going boldly to the door of the outhouse, and giving two knocks, a pause, and two knocks more. As he had expected, Carrie herself, after an interval of only a few seconds, opened the door. There was a little light in the outhouse, and none outside; and Max, having taken a couple of steps to the left, she at first saw nobody. So she made a step forward. Max instantly put himself between her and the door. On recognizing him, Carrie started, but uttered no sound, no word. "I want to speak to you," said Max, in a low voice. But all her boldness of their first interview, her coquetry of the second, her quiet caution of the third had disappeared. She was now frightened, shy, anxious to get away. "Oh, why did you come back? Why did you come back? Go away at once and never come here again. Haven't you got a lesson?" Her voice broke; her anxiety was visible. Max was touched, more interested than ever. "I can't go away," he whispered back, "until I have spoken to you about something which is very serious. Can't you come out on the wharf, somewhere where we can talk without anybody over-hearing?" "Oh, no, oh, no. I must go in. And you must go. Are you a _fool_," and she stamped her foot with sudden impatience, "to be so persistent?" "A fool?" echoed Max, half to himself. "By Jove, I think I am. Look here," and he bent down so that he might whisper very close to her ear; "I must set the police on this place, you know; but I want you to get away out of it first." She listened in silence. She waited for him to say more. But he was waiting on his side for the protests he expected. At last she laughed to herself derisively. "All right," said she. "Set the police on us by all means. Oh, do--do! But--just mention first to your friend, Mr. Horne, that that's what you're going to do. Just mention it to him, and see the thanks you'll get for your trouble!"