She swallowed twice, then spoke, her voice still strangely hoa.r.s.e.
"It was the doctor. He was outside there, in the pa.s.sage. I know he was there."
"Nonsense, there"s no one about, or if there is, it"s only Chalmers."
"Listen, though!"
Roger obeyed again, and for several seconds they both held their breath, straining their ears. At last from outside there came the very faint creak of a footstep, as though someone who had been standing still was now moving away. Roger made a movement to jump up, but in a panic she pulled him back.
"No, no, don"t leave me!"
"Certainly not, if you don"t want me to. But you"re quite safe now; you have nothing to be afraid of."
She leaned closer to him, trembling.
"No," the hoa.r.s.e voice whispered, "that"s not true. I"m not safe as long as I"m in the same house with him. He is afraid of me. He wants to keep me from talking. He will do anything to keep me quiet, anything. He"s only waiting for his chance."
A violent tremor seized her so that her teeth chattered. With his arm about her Roger forced her gently to lie down, noting with growing alarm the fixed glitter of her eyes and the moisture standing in beads upon her forehead, above which her bronze hair ruffled in damp curls.
All at once it had become appallingly easy to believe that she was suffering from the delusion of persecution, that her brain, somehow disordered, had fabricated a whole history of terror. Sick at heart he yet recalled the doctor"s counsel against allowing her to excite herself.
"Esther, dear," he said soothingly. "You must keep quite quiet and trust to me. Remember your nerves are bound to be upset after all that morphia you have had. You know that."
He stopped, afraid that he had said the wrong thing, but she only frowned thoughtfully as though considering his words.
"Morphia," she repeated to herself. "Yes, I suppose that is what it was. No wonder I feel queer.... And then of course I haven"t had anything to eat for two days and a half--that makes it worse."
"Two days and a half!"
He stared at her aghast. This last speech of hers sounded amazingly rational. He burned to question her, yet dared not attempt it.
"The doctor said you were to have something if you waked up," he said quietly, as though there were nothing out of the way. "There"s something here ready in a little saucepan. I"ve only got to heat it up. Shall I give it to you?"
She nodded and lay motionless, watching with languid eyes the blue flame of the spirit-lamp as he made ready a cup of broth, then submitted with the docility of a child while he put another pillow under her head and fed her the hot liquid, a spoonful at a time, slowly, for fear of making her sick. When she had finished she sank back with closed eyes, and he thought a faint tinge of warmer colour crept into her cheeks. For what seemed to him a long period there was complete silence. He gazed at her with searching eyes, tortured by doubts and questionings. When he had begun to think she had again fallen asleep, she quietly spoke.
"That was good," she murmured; "I needed that.... It"s a long time to go without food, you get so weak."
He could bear the suspense no longer. So cautiously he said:
"My dear, how was it you didn"t have anything to eat for two and a half days? What do you mean?"
She looked at him for a long puzzled moment, then drew her hand across her brow.
"Of course," she answered slowly, "you don"t know about that. No. How could you?"
He hoped she was going to continue, but instead she raised herself on her elbow and whispered, "Tell me this. What have you done about him?"
"You mean the doctor? Nothing. He"s in his room now, asleep, I suppose. It"s about three o"clock, you know."
She drew in her breath sharply, her pupils dilating.
"Do you mean you haven"t arrested him--after what I told you? Then he _was_ outside that door! I knew it!"
He caught her hands in a rea.s.suring grasp.
"No, no, my dear, you mustn"t be frightened. Don"t you understand it"s impossible to arrest the man--without a reason?"
She gave him a piercing look.
"But I _told_ you! Didn"t you hear what I said? He"s a murderer! He murdered your father, and he was going to kill you too, if I hadn"t found out and got here in time! Oh, aren"t people stupid! I thought I"d made it all clear!"
She tore her hands from his hold and covered her face for an instant, crying, "Oh, oh! Why couldn"t you have him arrested at once, both of them for that matter? I can"t understand! Why didn"t you?"
There was no evading the sharpness of her question. He dropped his eyes in embarra.s.sment, unable to reply.
"Oh!" she burst out as though the truth had suddenly dawned on her, "now I know, I see it all! You thought I didn"t know what I was saying. You thought I was raving. The doctor made you believe it. He would; he"s always prepared for any emergency, even though he never dreamed I should get away!"
"Get away? What do you mean by that, Esther?"
Instead of replying, she lifted his right hand and examined it with feverish interest.
"Are you absolutely sure he didn"t touch this place in any way? You didn"t let him put anything on it?"
"No, no--nothing at all."
She sank back, exhausted.
"Thank G.o.d! I began to be afraid I didn"t save you after all," she breathed, and laughed a little hysterically. "Oh, Roger, I shall dream for years of that terrible time I had trying to reach you! I honestly thought I should die on the way."
"Esther," he said, forcing himself to speak calmly, "where were you during those two days and nights? What do you mean by a terrible time trying to reach me?"
Her face contracted with a spasm of pain, as though the memory were unbearable. He pressed her hand, quick to spare her, and afraid, too, that he might do her an injury.
"It doesn"t in the least matter; don"t tell me now."
She lay silent another moment, then answered slowly:
"No ... I will tell you. It won"t hurt me now. You see, I have been kept a prisoner ... unconscious ... in the doctor"s laboratory, you know, at the top of his house ... in the Route de Gra.s.se."
"A prisoner----!"
For the life of him he could not repress the utter incredulity he felt at this astounding statement.
"I don"t think you believe me," she said, smiling the ghost of a smile.
"I know it sounds impossible, but it"s true. He never meant for me to leave there alive. He was going to do away with me so as to leave no trace."
Suddenly he knew that she was speaking the truth.
"Esther--do you know what you"re saying?"