"He is in his room," she said. "Mr. Hyde didn't know."
Hyde laughed, and at the sound the hand on Hope's shoulder closed like a vice, till she bit her lip with the effort to endure the pain. Baring saw it, and instantly set her free.
"Go to your brother," he said, "and ask him to come and speak to me!"
The authority in his voice was not to be gainsaid. She threw an imploring look at Hyde, and went. She fled like a wild creature along the veranda to her brother's room, and tapped feverishly, frantically at the window. Then she paused listening intently for a reply. But she could hear nothing save the loud beating of her heart. It drummed in her ears like the hoofs of a galloping horse. Desperately she knocked again.
"Let me in!" she gasped. "Let me in!"
There came a blundering movement, and the door opened.
"Hullo!" said Ronnie, in a voice of sleepy irritation. "What's up?"
She stumbled into the dark room, breathless and sobbing.
"Oh, Ronnie!" she cried. "Oh, Ronnie; you must help me now!"
He fastened the door behind her, and as she sank down half-fainting in a chair, she heard him groping for matches on the dressing-table.