The last expression was a groan. The medium moved restlessly, then groaned again.
"Proceed! I command you!" said Miss Ottley in a trembling voice.
But Navarro for a third time groaned, and he began to struggle on the couch.
"Oh, God! he is waking up!" cried the girl. "Hold his hands tightly, Frankfort. He must tell us more! He must, he must!"
But Navarro with a sudden spasmodic writhe and twist, broke away and sat erect. He was shaking like a man in an ague, and he began to pant and groan like a wounded animal.
Miss Ottley gasped "Too late!" and wrung her hands.
I handed the medium a glass of water, but he was trembling too violently to take it of himself. He spilt half the contents on his knee. I forced the rest into his mouth. It revived him. A little later he stood up. He was bathed in perspiration, and looked sick. But he rejected all offers of assistance. He seemed to be very angry. He declared that we had treated him most cruelly, and that we might have killed him. He would not be appeased, and he went off in the care of a footman filled with petulant resentment and mouthing stupid threats. It may have been a pose, part of his "business" intended for effect to impress his clients;—probably it was. But I am not sure. He certainly seemed to be in a highly over-wrought, nervous condition; he could not easily have affected that.
After he had gone we all sat back in our chairs and stared at one another. Nobody was in the least haste to speak; we had so much to think about; and it was plain that "Fancy"—"Well, I never!" and ejaculations of that ilk did not even begin to meet the conversational demands of the occasion. Lady Helen was the first to speak.
She said, "Well, I am trying hard to be an ideal hostess and not ask any questions that might seem impertinent. But will someone tell me, is it Sir Robert Ottley and Dr. Belleville who are making preparations for Dr. Pinsent's funeral. I wish to know real badly, because I want him to do quite a lot of things for me before he crosses over the divide, and if necessary I shall go to Sir Robert and ask him for my sake to give Dr. Pinsent a little time to say his prayers."