"We could not go away, even if we wanted to," I said, as impressively
as I could. "We can not leave this! And we are in the
torture-chamber!"

"Hush!" whispered Christine again.

Heavy steps sounded slowly behind the wall, then stopped and made the
floor creak once more. Next came a tremendous sigh, followed by a cry
of horror from Christine, and we heard Erik's voice:

"I beg your pardon for letting you see a face like this! What a state
I am in, am I not? It's THE OTHER ONE'S FAULT! Why did he ring? Do I
ask people who pass to tell me the time? He will never ask anybody the
time again! It is the siren's fault."

[Illustration: two page color illustration]

Another sigh, deeper, more tremendous still, came from the abysmal
depths of a soul.

"Why did you cry out, Christine?"

"Because I am in pain, Erik."

"I thought I had frightened you."

"Erik, unloose my bonds ... Am I not your prisoner?"

"You will try to kill yourself again."

"You have given me till eleven o'clock to-morrow evening, Erik."

The footsteps dragged along the floor again.

"After all, as we are to die together ... and I am just as eager as you
... yes, I have had enough of this life, you know... Wait, don't move,
I will release you ... You have only one word to say: 'NO!' And it
will at once be over WITH EVERYBODY! ... You are right, you are right;
why wait till eleven o'clock to-morrow evening? True, it would have
been grander, finer ... But that is childish nonsense ... We should
only think of ourselves in this life, of our own death ... the rest
doesn't matter... YOU'RE LOOKING AT ME BECAUSE I AM ALL WET? ... Oh,
my dear, it's raining cats and dogs outside! ... Apart from that,
Christine, I think I am subject to hallucinations ... You know, the
man who rang at the siren's door just now--go and look if he's ringing
at the bottom of the lake-well, he was rather like... There, turn
round ... are you glad? You're free now... Oh, my poor Christine,
look at your wrists: tell me, have I hurt them? ... That alone
deserves death ... Talking of death, I MUST SING HIS REQUIEM!"

Hearing these terrible remarks, I received an awful presentiment ... I
too had once rung at the monster's door ... and, without knowing it,
must have set some warning current in motion.

And I remembered the two arms that had emerged from the inky waters...
What poor wretch had strayed to that shore this time? Who was 'the
other one,' the