"Hermione," he cried, "has your imagination carried you so far? Ghost? Do you believe in ghosts?"
"I believe in anything now," she murmured.
Frightened by her shudders and dazed by words he found it impossible to treat lightly with those mysterious marks before him, Frank turned for relief to Emma, who had risen also and stood a few steps behind them, with her face bent downward though the Doctor pressed close at her side.
"Do you understand her?" said Frank.
With an effort Emma moved forward. "It has frightened me," she whispered.
"What has? Let us hear all about it," demanded the Doctor, speaking for the first time.
Hermione gave him a wistful glance. "We are wretched girls," said she. "If you expected to relieve us from the curse, it is impossible; my father will not have it so."
"Your father!" quoth both of the young men, appalled not at the superstition thus evinced, but at the effect they saw it was likely to have upon her mind.
"Did you think you saw him?" added Frank. "When? Where?"
"In the laboratory—last night. I did not see him but I felt him; felt him strike my head with his fingers and drag me back. It was worse than death! I shall never get over it."