lled it, wondering
how it could have slipped his memory till now. What if Therese had had
another and more vital reason than he had thought of for keeping him
away? Was it possible she had been afraid to have him in the house?
It was a fact that he alone knew her relations with Holliday, he alone
had always to an annoying extent seen through her. He recalled with a
feeling akin to nausea her recent attempts to placate him, to turn him
from an enemy into an ally. Had she done that in order to blind him
the more completely to what was going on? The idea suggested a degree
of calculating inhumanity appalling to contemplate. He lived over
again the moment when she had clung to him caressingly and pressed her
perfumed cheek against his breast.... How could he have been such an
utter fool? He set his teeth with a feeling of intolerable disgust....

A smothered scream from the bed caused him to start up.

Esther had suddenly sat up in bed, bolt-upright, her eyes glazed with
terror, one thin hand clapped over her open mouth.

"Esther, my dear! What is it?"

She continued to gaze transfixed in the direction of the door,
unutterable horror written on her face.

"S'sh," she whispered tensely. "S'sh--listen!"

Roger listened, but could hear nothing. The house was absolutely
still. Very gently he took her hand and held it firmly in his. It
trembled like a bird imprisoned.

"Darling--there's nothing to be frightened of. What did you think you
heard?"

She swallowed twice, then spoke, her voice still strangely hoarse.

"It was the doctor. He was outside there, in the passage. I know he
was there."

"Nonsense, there's no one about, or if there is, it's only Chalmers."

"Listen, though!"

Roger obeyed again, and for several seconds they both held their
breath, straining their ears. At last from outside there came the very
faint creak of a footstep, as though someone who had been standing
still was now moving away. Roger made a movement to jump up, but in a
panic she pulled him back.

"No, no, don't leave me!"

"Certainly not, if you don't want me to. But you're quite safe now;
you have nothing to be afraid of."

She leaned closer to him, trembling.

"No," the hoarse voice whispered, "that's not true. I'm not safe as
long as I'm in the same house with him. He is afraid of me. He wants
to keep me from talking. He will do anything to keep me quiet,
anything. He's only waiting for his chance."