Max began to stroll about in search of them.
"Here comes the rain!" said Nick. "It will be lighter directly."
The rain came quite suddenly in an immense volume, that beat with deafening force upon the roof, drowning all but the loudest crashes of thunder. For a few seconds the darkness was like night. Then, swift and awful, there came a flash that was brighter than the noonday sun. It streaked through the stained-gla.s.s window, showing the dreadful picture like a vision to those below it, throwing a stream of vivid crimson upon the floor; then glanced away into the dark.
There came a sound like the bursting of sh.e.l.l that shook the very walls to their foundation. And through it and above it, high and horrible as the laughter of storm-fiends there came a woman"s laugh....
In that instant Nick"s hand suddenly left Olga"s. He leaped from her side with the agility of a panther, and hurled himself into the darkness of the archway that led to the inner hall.
Something dreadful was happening there, she knew not what; and her heart stood still in terror while peal after peal of that awful laughter rang through the pealing thunder.
Then came another flash of lighting, keen as the blade of a sword, and she saw. There, outlined against the darkness of the archway, red-robed and terrible, stood Violet. Her right hand was flung up above her head, and in her grasp was a knife that she must have taken from the table.
She was laughing still with white teeth gleaming, but in her eyes shone the glare of madness and the red, red l.u.s.t of blood.
The picture flashed away and the thunder broke forth again, but the fiendish laughter continued for seconds till suddenly it turned to a piercing scream and ceased. Only the echoes of the thunder remained and a dreadful sound of struggling on the further side of the archway, together with a choking sound near at hand as of some animal striving against restraint.
Olga stumbled blindly forward. "Nick! Nick! Where are you? What has happened?" she cried, in an agony.
Instantly his voice came to her. "Here, child! Don"t be scared! I"m holding the dog."
She groped her way to him, nearly falling over Cork, who was dragging against his hand.
The great dog turned to her, whining, and, rea.s.sured by her presence, ceased to resist.
"That"s better," said Nick, with relief. "Can you hold him?"
She slipped her hand inside his collar! "Nick! What has happened?" she whispered, for her voice was gone.
Dimly she discerned figures in the inner hall, but there was no longer any sound of struggling. And then quite suddenly Max came back through the archway.
"Lend me a hand, Ratcliffe!" he said. "I"m bleeding like a pig."
CHAPTER XXIII
AS GOOD AS DEAD
So cool was his utterance, so perfectly free from agitation his demeanour, that Olga wondered if she could have heard aright. Then she saw him go to the table and prepare to remove his coat, and she knew that there could be no mistake.
The frozen horror of the past few seconds fell from her, and strength came in its place--the strength born of emergency. "I shall help you better than Nick," she said.
"If you don"t faint," said Max.
She spoke a rea.s.suring word to Cork and let him go. He moved away at once in uneasy search for his mistress, and she turned round to Max.
Nick was already helping him out of his coat.
The storm had lulled somewhat, and the gloom had begun to lighten. As she drew near him she saw his right arm emerge from the coat. The shirt-sleeve was soaked with blood from shoulder to cuff.
"It"s the top of the shoulder," said Max. "Only a flesh wound. Make a wet pad of one of those table-napkins and bind it up tight. I"ll go back to the cottage-hospital presently and get it dressed."
With the utmost calmness he issued his directions, and Olga found herself obeying almost mechanically. Nick helped her to cut away the shirt and expose the wound. It was a deep one, and had been inflicted from the back.
"Quite a near shave," said Max, with composure. "That flash of lightning came just in time. I saw the reflection in one of those oak panels."
"Will this stop the bleeding?" asked Olga doubtfully.
"Yes, if you get the pressure on the right place. Pull it hard! That"s the way! Don"t mind me!" He was speaking through clenched teeth. "I daresay Nick knows all about first aid."
Nick did; and under his supervision the injury was bandaged at length with success.
"First-rate!" said Max approvingly. "I congratulate the pair of you. Now I will have a brandy and soda, if you have no objection. Olga must have one too. I"m never anxious about Nick. He always comes out on top."
He watched Olga pour him out a drink according to instructions. The storm was pa.s.sing, and every instant the gloomy place grew lighter.
Glancing at him, as she placed the tumbler before him, she saw his face fully for the first time, and noted how drawn and grey it was.
He smiled at her abruptly. "All right, Olga! You must drink the first quarter."
"Oh, no!" said Olga quickly.
"Oh, yes!" he rejoined imperturbably. "Tell her to, Nick! I know your word is law."
Nick had strolled across the hall to pick up something that lay upon the floor. As he returned, Olga was hastily gulping the prescribed dose.
Max turned towards him. "Yes. Take care of that!" he said. "It"s done enough damage." He took the gla.s.s that Olga held out to him, and deliberately drained it. Then he rose, and took up his coat. "I must get into this if possible," he said.
Silently, with infinite care, Olga helped him.
Nick stood with the knife in his hand. "What are you going to do now?"
he said.
Max"s brows went up. "My dear fellow, what do you suppose? I am going to attend to my patient."
"Where is she?" said Nick.
"Upstairs. Mrs. Briggs went to look after her. I"m going to give her a composing draught," said Max, plunging his hand into a side-pocket.
"Oh, Max!" exclaimed Olga.
He turned to her. "There will be no repet.i.tion of this," he said grimly.
"Miss Campion is exhausted and probably more or less in her right mind by now."
"But she won"t be if you go to her," Olga said, and in her eagerness she drew near to him and laid a light hand on his sleeve. "Max, you mustn"t go to her--indeed--indeed. I have promised her that you shall not. As you have seen for yourself, the very sight of you is enough to send her demented."
"Oh, it"s for her sake, is it?" said Max; but he stood still, suffering her hand on his arm.