Now the worst of Sybil's terrors were over. Those dreadful men were gone. Before her was only a woman, a girl, whom she certainly had no reason to fear.
They looked at each other in silence for perhaps half a minute; and then Sybil spoke:
"What place is this? Who are you? Why am I brought hither?"
"One question at a time," answered the girl. "'What place this is' concerns you little; 'who I am' concerns you less; 'why you are brought here,' ah! that concerns you very much! It concerns your liberty, and perhaps your life."
"I do not believe it! You have had me torn away from my husband! Where is he now?" haughtily demanded Mrs. Berners.
"He is likely in the hands of the constables, who are by this time in possession of the Haunted Chapel. But fear nothing! Him they will release again, for they have no right to detain him; but you they would have kept if they had caught you. Come, lady, do not resent the rough manner in which you were saved."
"I do not understand all this."
"It is scarcely necessary that you should."
"And my husband! When shall I see him?"
"When you can do so with safety to yourself, and to us."