"Steady. Now is our time."
Abruptly they stopped. A couple that had been following them avoided
collision by a close margin. Over his partner's head the man scowled
portentously--and dissipated his display of temper on Lanyard's indifferent
back.
Upon those guests who sat between the dancing floor and elevator, Lanyard
wasted no consideration. Pushing roughly between two adjoining tables, he
lifted one chair with its astonished occupant bodily out of the way, then
turned, swung an arm round the girl's waist, all but threw her through the
lane he had created, followed without an instant's pause.
It was all so quickly accomplished that the girl was in the car before
another person in the room appreciated what was happening. And Lanyard, in
the act of slamming the door shut without heed for the protesting operator,
saw only a room full of amazed faces with gaping mouths and rounded
eyes--and one man of the four at the near-by table in the act of rising
uncertainly, with a stupefied look.
Elbowing the boy aside, he seized the operating lever and thrust it to the
notch labelled "Descend.
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