"Sam, please!" She spoke harshly, sharply. Then she smiled and said
softly, "Please."
Sam sighed, drained his glass, and looked speculatively at the bottle.
"Forget about seeing Mr. Jay in the morning. It will happen tonight.
It's probably happening right now."
Persia found herself on her feet, hurrying to the door. There she
stopped, frowning thoughtfully.
"There's nothing anybody can do," Sam said from the parlor.
Then she went back to the sofa and sat down. Sam spoke tonelessly.
"Madrid took his gun; now some money fighter is going to put him in
the hospital. It will be a joke around town, Mr. Jay said, all that
happening to the big troublebuster the first night he gets in town. It
won't be too bad, I guess, Persia. Maybe it's all over by now. Put it
out of your mind."
"Yes." She gave a curious little shrug. "Put it out of my mind. There's
nothing else to do."
They sat in silence for a time. Then she said, "Sam, if we went away
from here, where would we go?"