At my heels followed the leopardess.
"She too has failed me!" thought I; "-- given me up to the beast to be settled with at her leisure! But we shall have a tussle for it!" I ran down the stair, fearing she would spring on my back, but she followed me quietly.

At the foot I turned to lay hold of her, but she sprang over my head; and when again I turned to face her, she was crouching at my feet! I stooped and stroked her lovely white skin; she responded by licking my bare feet with her hard dry tongue.

Then I patted and fondled her, a well of tenderness overflowing in my heart: she might be treacherous too, but if I turned from every show of love lest it should be feigned, how was I ever to find the real love which must be somewhere in every world?
I stood up; she rose, and stood beside me.
A bulky object fell with a heavy squelch in the middle of the street, a few yards from us.

I ran to it, and found a pulpy mass, with just form enough left to show it the body of a woman.

It must have been thrown from some neighbouring window! I looked around me: the Shadow was walking along the other side of the way, with the white leopardess again at his heel! I followed and gained upon them, urging in my heart for the leopardess that probably she was not a free agent.