The room was in darkness but for the light he had switched on.
“It is noon, and our friends have brought soldiers. Ach! how important a woman you are, that the whole army should come out for you!”
Sarcasm was wasted on Mirabelle.
“What is going to happen—now?”
“I do not know.” He shrugged his shoulders. “They have brought a diabolical instrument into the grounds. They may use it, to give them cover, so that the door may be blown in. At that moment I place you in the snake-room. This I shall tell our friends very quickly.”
She gazed at him in horror.
“You wouldn’t do anything so wicked, Mr. Oberzohn!”
Up and down went the skin of his forehead.
“That I shall tell them and that I shall do,” he said, and locked her in with this comfortless assurance.
He went into his study and, fastening the door, took two strands of wire from his pocket and repaired the broken telephone connections.