"No."
"That is the truth?"
"It is the truth."
The President turned at the door.
"If I have not returned in two hours' time," he said, "act for the best to save yourselves, and do what you like with the prisoner. Number Two will give orders in my absence."
He left the room. Number Two rose from her seat with a gesture of command.
"Ladies and gentlemen. Supper is now considered over. Start the dancing again."
Down in the cellar the time passed slowly, in the contemplation of apparatus Number 5. The miserable Jukes, alternately wailing and raving, at length shrieked himself into exhaustion. The four members guarding the prisoners whispered together from time to time.
"An hour and a half since the President left," said one.