Before he could discover whether this was a cry of thanksgiving or not, she fell forward and lay motionless at his feet.
After that first second of stupefaction, Mr. Mellen checked the wonderment of the man—who by this time had come up—and between them they carried the senseless woman to the house.
The servant who met them in the hall gave a cry of dismay at the sight of her master thus suddenly entering the house with his wife lying like a dead woman in his arms, and was ready to believe that the whole sight was a ghostly illusion.
"Bring some wine," called Mellen; "is there a fire? Are you deaf and blind, girl?"
"It is the masther!" exclaimed the frightened creature. "It's the masther come back—oh, I thought I'd seed ghosts at last!"
Her cries brought the whole household up from the basement; but regardless of their wonder and alarm, Grantley Mellen carried his wife away towards the library, and laid her upon a couch.
It was some moments before Elizabeth Mellen opened her eyes, then she glanced about with a vacant, startled look, as if unable to comprehend what had happened.
Her husband was standing in the shadow, gazing down at her with the strange, moody look so unlike the active alarm which would have filled the mind of most men, and she did not at first perceive his presence.
"I thought I saw Grantley," she murmured. "I—I have gone mad at last."
"Elizabeth!"