g, and
still you didn't come. I telephoned Doctor Geddes, when I couldn't
stand it any longer. And then The Author came down-stairs. And oh,
Sophy, there was such an unearthly, clammy, waiting sort of feeling
in the house--all those lights, all those empty rooms--I felt as if
something terrible must be happening!" She clung to me as she spoke,
kissing me, and shook, and wept. "And when you still didn't come,
and we couldn't find you anywhere, The Author suggested that we
should come over here and enlist Mr. Jelnik.

"When we got here, there wasn't a soul in this house. Not even the
dog. We went back to Hynds House, and walked through our garden, and
then came back here, because we didn't know what else to do. Oh,
Sophy!" I patted her shoulders, mumbling that she mustn't cry, it
was ail right.

"Miss Gaines, I am dreadfully sorry you should have been frightened.
But there really wasn't the least occasion for alarm. Because Miss
Smith was with _me_," said Mr. Jelnik calmly.

Alicia looked at him, trying to read his face in the wan light. Her
world, as it were, was rocking under her feet. She looked at me; and
I said nothing. To save my life I couldn't speak of Jessamine Hynds
then, nor talk coherently of that night's experience. I couldn't
betray Nicholas Jelnik's secrets, nor mention the Watcher in the
Dark, nor that dreadful red-walled room. So I merely patted Alicia's
shoulder, while she held fast to me as if I might again disappear.

"That is exactly what we should like you to explain, Mr. Jelnik, if
you please," said The Author, with deadly politeness. "You must
pardon us if we disagree with your assertion that Miss Gaines had no
real occasion for alarm."

"Miss Smith and I," said Mr. Jelnik, stiffening, at the tone, "found
it absolute necessary to leave Hynds House for a short while
to-night, to attend to--an affair of some importance to us both, but
which concerns no one else on earth." Under the grave politeness his
voice had an edge of irritation. "I repeat that I am sincerely sorry
Miss Alicia was frightened. For my share in that, I crave her
pardon. I ask all of you to accept this apology as an explanation
which is final."

"I for one shall do no such thing!" cried The Author, hotly. "Are
we impertinent children to be thus lightly dismissed? Of course, if
Miss Smith herself--"

"You have neither right nor authority to cross-question Miss Smith,"
interposed Mr. Jelnik, sharply. But Doctor Geddes broke