ctually lay. For, as I came
out of my room, it happened that Colonel Wragge and the doctor were
going downstairs together, and their words floated up to my ears before
I could make my presence known by so much as a cough.

"Then you must find a way," the doctor was saying with decision; "for I
cannot insist too strongly upon that--and at all costs she must be kept
quiet. These attempts to go out must be prevented--if necessary, by
force. This desire to visit some wood or other she keeps talking about
is, of course, hysterical in nature. It cannot be permitted for a
moment."

"It shall not be permitted," I heard the soldier reply, as they reached
the hall below.

"It has impressed her mind for some reason--" the doctor went on, by way
evidently of soothing explanation, and then the distance made it
impossible for me to hear more.

At dinner Dr. Silence was still absent, on the public plea of a
headache, and though food was sent to his room, I am inclined to believe
he did not touch it, but spent the entire time fasting.

We retired early, desiring that the household should do likewise, and I
must confess that at ten o'clock when I bid my host a temporary
good-night, and sought my room to make what mental preparation I could,
I realised in no very pleasant fashion that it was a singular and
formidable assignation, this midnight meeting in the laundry building,
and that there were moments in every adventure of life when a wise man,
and one who knew his own limitations, owed it to his dignity to withdraw
discreetly. And, but for the character of our leader, I probably should
have then and there offered the best excuse I could think of, and have
allowed myself quietly to fall asleep and wait for an exciting story in
the morning of what had happened. But with a man like John Silence, such
a lapse was out of the question, and I sat before my fire counting the
minutes and doing everything I could think of to fortify my resolution
and fasten my will at the point where I could be reasonably sure that my
self-control would hold against all attacks of men, devils, or
elementals.

III

At a quarter before midnight, clad in a heavy ulster, and with slippered
feet, I crept cautiously from my room and stole down the passage to the
top of the stairs. Outside the doctor's door I waited a moment to
listen. All was still; the house in utter darkness; no gleam of light
beneath any door; only, down the length of the corridor, from