"I know. I'm sorry. I'll be all right. But—"
"Can you Dr.ive?"
"Yes."
He started the engine and turned the car round. Then he pushed the gear lever into neutral and set the hand brake.
"Dr.ive this car," he said. "Take it down to the gates and wait for me there. You'll be close to the highway, and there'll be plenty of other cars passing for company. Even if you do see anything, you needn't be frightened. Treat the car like a tank and run it over. Ivar won't mind — he's got plenty more. And if you hear anything, don't worry. Give me half an hour, and if I'm not back go to Ivar's and talk to him."
Her mouth opened incredulously.
"You're not getting out again?"
"I am. And I'm scared stiff." The ghost of a smile touched his lips, and then she saw that his face was stern and cold. "But I must talk to your uncle."
He gripped her arm for a moment, kissed her lightly and got out. Without a backward glance he walked quickly away from the car, up the Dr.ive towards the house. A flashlight in his left hand lanced the. darkness ahead of him with its powerful beam, and he swung it from left to right as he walked, holding his gun in his right hand. His ears strained into the gloom which his eyes could not penetrate, probing the silence under the soft scuff of his own footsteps for any sound that would give him warning; but he forced himself not to look back. The palms of his hands were moist.
The house loomed up in front of him. He turned off to one side of the building, following the direction in which he remembered that Dr. Sardon's laboratory lay. Almost at once he saw the squares of lighted windows through the trees. A dull clang of sound came to him, followed by a sort of furious thumping. He checked himself; and then as he walked on more quickly some of the lighted windows went black. The door of the laboratory opened as the last light went out, and his torch framed Dr. Sardon and the doorway in its yellow circle.