s. "But
who is after you?"

A splintering crash resounded outside.

"The Mercutians, as you no doubt hear," the little man responded with
faint irony.

The girl gasped again. "Oh my God!"

There was silence. Hilary strained his ears, yet took care to keep
hidden behind Grim's huge frame. What would she do now? It seemed to
him as if the whole world depended on her reply.

The girl broke the silence. She had come to a swift decision.

"They must not get you. Go upstairs, quietly, into the chamber on the
left of the hall. It's my bedroom. Their search beams can not
penetrate it; the walls are draped with lead-encrusted curtains. I'll
stay down here and try to throw them off the trail."

Hilary's heart recommenced beating. A gush of joy overwhelmed him.
The girl had proven herself.

Grim spoke, for the first time.

"You know the penalty of course, for hiding us."

She did not answer directly. "I can't help it. I can't surrender
Earthmen to those beasts. Besides"--there was a catch in her
voice--"it does not matter much since--"

Hilary stepped quietly from behind Grim's overshadowing bulk.

The girl's eyes went wide at the sight of him; her slender white hand
flew to her throat. She looked as if she had seen a ghost.

"You--you!" she choked. "Hilary!"

* * * * *

She swayed and would have fallen, had Hilary not jumped to catch her.
His heart was beating thickly with excess of emotion. Joan Robbins in
his arms again--how he prayed for this moment in the icy reaches of
interplanetary space. Yet what was she doing here in Bronxville? Her
home had always been atop the windswept Robbins Building in Great New
York.

Her hand went softly over his features, as though to assure herself
that it was really he.

"Oh, my dear," she whispered brokenly. "I had almost given up all
hope. Everyone was certain you were lost--long ago."

Whirrings sounded outside.

"Sorry to break up your reunion," Grim interrupted in his bass rumble,
"but the Mercutians have landed on the lawn. They'll be in here right
away."

Joan tore herself out of Hilary's arms. Her slim straight figure
tautened; her velvet soft eyebrows puckered over deep-lit pools.

"Upstairs quickly, all of you," she cried. "I'll manage them somehow."

Hilary said quietly, "I won't leave you alone with those brutes. You
go along up, and I'll remain here." The automatic gleamed in his hand.

"No, no," she panted, "you mustn'