"Avery!"
Every pulse leapt, every nerve shrank. She started up, wide-eyed, desperate.
"I will talk to you in the morning, Piers," she said, steadying her voice with difficulty. "Not now! Not now!"
"Open this door!" he said.
There was dear command in his voice, and with it the old magnetic force reached her, quick, insistent, vital. She threw a wild look round, but only the dazzling moonlight met her eyes. There was no escape for her—no escape.
She turned her face to the door behind which he stood. "Piers, please, not to-night!" she said beseechingly.
"Open the door!" he repeated inexorably.
Again that force reached her. It was like an electric current suddenly injected into her veins. Her whole body quivered in response. Almost before she knew it, she had started to obey.
And then horror seized her—a dread unutterable. She stopped.
"Piers, will you promise—"