"It"s in my handkerchief drawer--but it"s loaded."
"All the better. I"ve fired off a revolver before to-day, and I am quite willing, at a pinch, to fire off another one to-night. I"ll show you what we"ll do." While she spoke, Madge had been searching the drawer in question. Now she stood with the weapon in her hand.
"Perhaps you"ll be so good as to get out of bed, and put something on, unless you prefer to go downstairs as the Woman in White. I suppose you"re not afraid?"
Ella had got so far out of bed as to sit on the side, with her feet dangling over the edge.
"Well--I don"t know that I am exactly afraid, but if you ask me if being woke in the middle of the night, to be told there"s burglars in the house, is the kind of thing I"m fond of, I"ll admit it isn"t."
Madge laughed. Ella"s tone, and air of exceeding ruefulness, apparently struck her as comical.
"It occurs to me, Miss Duncan, that it won"t be long before Mr. Martyn makes a convert of you. As for me, now my blood"s getting up--and it is getting up--I am beginning to think that it is rather fun."
"Are you? Then I"m afraid your sense of humour must be keener than mine." She followed Madge"s example--putting on a pair of slippers and a dressing-gown. "Now, what are you going to do?"
"I"m going down to ask our guest to show me his card of invitation."
"Madge! Hadn"t we better open the window and scream? Or you might fire into the air--if you"re sure you do know how to fire a revolver."
"I"ll soon show you if I know--and I"ll show our visitor too. And I don"t think we"d better open the window and scream. Are you coming?"
Madge moved out of the room, Ella going after her with a rush.
"Madge!--don"t leave me!"
The two girls stood listening at the top of the stairs--Madge with the candlestick in one hand, and the revolver in the other.
"It strikes me that we sha"n"t be able to inquire for that card of invitation, because he doesn"t mean to stay for us to ask him. His intention is not to stand upon the order of his going, but to go at once."
Apparently the proceedings in Ella"s bedroom had been audible below.
Evidently the person in the sitting-room had become startled. There was a stampede of heavy feet across the floor; the noise of furniture being hastily pushed aside; then they could hear the sound of the window being unlatched, and opened. It was plain that the intruder, whoever it was, was bent on showing a clean pair of heels.
It seemed as if the cert.i.tude of this fact had inspired Ella with sudden courage. Anyhow, she there and then shouted, with the full force of her lungs, as if she all at once had found her voice.
"Who"s that downstairs?"
"Speak!" exclaimed Madge, with a nearly simultaneous yell, "or I fire!"
And she did fire--though no one spoke; or, for the matter of that, had a chance of speaking; for the words and the shot came both together.
What she fired at was not quite plain, since, if appearances could be trusted, the bullet lodged in the ceiling; for, at the same moment, a small shower of plaster came tumbling down.
"Madge!" cried Ella. "I believe you"ve sent the bullet right through the roof! How you frightened me!"
"It was rather a startler," admitted Madge, in whose voice there seemed a slight tendency to tremor. "I"d no idea it would make such a noise--the other revolver I fired didn"t. Ella!--what are you doing?"
The question was induced by the fact that Ella had rushed to the landing window, thrown the sash up, thrust her head out, and was shouting as loudly as she could:
"Thieves! thieves!--help!"
Madge came up and put her head out beside her.
"Can you see him? Has he gone?"
"Of course he"s gone--there he is, running down the road."
"Are you sure it"s a man?"
"A man! It"s a villain!--Help! thieves! help!"
"Don"t make that noise. What"s the use? No one can hear you, and it only gives him the impression that we"re afraid of him, which we"re not; as, if he comes back again, we"ll show him. There"s more bullets in this revolver than one--I remember Jack saying so; and I"m not forced to send them all through the roof."
Ella drew her head inside. There was colour in her cheeks, and fire in her eyes. Now that the immediate danger seemed past her humour was a ferocious one.
"I wish you"d shot him."
Madge was calmer, though still sufficiently sanguinary.
"Well--I couldn"t very well shoot him if I never caught a glimpse of him, could I? But we"ll do better next time."
Ella clenched her fists, and her teeth too.
"Next time!--Oh, I think a burglar"s the most despicable wretch on the face of the earth, and, if I had my way, I"d send every one caught in the act right straight to the gallows."
"Precisely--when caught. But you can scarcely effect a capture by standing on the top of the stairs, and inquiring of the burglar if he"s there."
"I know I behaved like a coward--you needn"t remind me. But that was because I was taken by surprise. If he were to come back----"
"Yes--if he were to come back?" Madge looked out of the window--casually. "I fancy there"s some one coming down the road--it may be he returning."
Ella clutched at her arm.
"Madge!"
"You needn"t be alarmed, my dear, I was mistaken; it"s no one after all. Suppose, instead of breathing threatenings and slaughters "after the battle is over," we go down and see what mementoes of his presence our visitor has left behind--or, rather, what mementoes he has taken with him."
"Are you sure he was alone?"
"We shall be able to make sure by going down to see."
"Oh, Madge, do you think----"
"No, my dear, I don"t, or I should be no more desirous of going down than you. I"m only willing to go and see if there is some one there because I"m sure there isn"t."
There was not--luckily. There was little conspicuously heroic about the bearing of the young ladies as they descended the stairs to suggest that they would have made short work of any ruthless ruffian who might have been in hiding. About halfway down, Madge gave what was perhaps an involuntary little cough; at which Ella started as if the other had been guilty of a crime; and both paused as if fearful that something dreadful might ensue. The sitting-room door was closed. They hung about the handle as if it had been the entrance to some Bluebeard"s den, and unimaginable horrors were concealed within.
When Madge, giving the k.n.o.b a courageous twist, flung the door wide open, Ella"s face was pasty white. Both perceptibly retreated, as if expecting some monster to spring out on them. But no one sprang--apparently because there was no one there.
A current of cold air came from the room.
"The window"s open."