This might have been going on some time unnoticed by the three persons in the library, who were absorbed in their own trouble; but now the disturbance on the opposite side of the hall was too evident to be ignored.
The sound of angry voices, hurrying steps and struggling forms reached their ears.
Lamia started up from her sofa and sat with her head bent forward, staring in the direction of the noise and listening intently, with a look of demoniacal satisfaction and expectancy on her face.
Julia cowered and clung for protection to the husband whom she herself had just been comforting.
He patted her head to reassure her, and then said:
“There, let me go, dear, and see what is the matter in there,” gently trying to release himself from her clasp.
“Oh, no, no!” cried Julia, clinging closer than before. “Pray, don’t leave us, John! Don’t go into that room! Something dreadful is going on there.”
At that moment a piercing shriek rang through the air, followed by a heavy fall that shook the house.
“I cannot stand this! Julia, I cannot stand it! I tell you I must run and prevent mischief if I can!” he urged earnestly, trying to free himself from her strong arms, but finding that he could not do so without using force and violence that must hurt her.
The confusion arose to uproar. A loud crash shivered on the floor, and a peal of fiendish laughter resounded through the building, and a woman’s agonized cry went up to heaven for help!