beating upon her eager and beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was

sick with fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one

shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few whispered words of

broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, like those of a frightened horse,

into the gloom behind her.


“‘I would go,’ said she, trying hard, as it seemed to

me, to speak calmly; ‘I would go. I should not stay here. There is no

good for you to do.’


“‘But, madam,’ said I, ‘I have not yet done what

I came for. I cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.’


“‘It is not worth your while to wait,’ she went on.

‘You can pass through the door; no one hinders.’ And then, seeing

that I smiled and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and

made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. ‘For the love of

Heaven!’ she whispered, ‘get away from here before it is too

late!’


“But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to engage in

an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I thought of my fifty-guinea

fee, of my wearisome journey, and of the unpleasant night which seemed to be

before me. Was it all to go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having

carried out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This woman

might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout bearing, therefore, though

her manner had shaken me more than I cared to confess, I still shook my head

and declared my intention of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her

entreaties when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps was

heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up her hands with a

despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and as noiselessly as she had

come.


“The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man with a

chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double chin, who was