"Leander, where are you? It's all dark! Speak to me; tell me you've done nothing rash! Oh, Leander, it's Matilda!"
That voice, which a short while back he would have given the world to hear once more, appalled him now. For if she came in, the goddess would discover who she was, and then—he shuddered to think what might happen then!
Matilda's hand was actually on the door. "Stop where you are!" he shouted, in despair; "for mercy's sake, don't come in!"
"STOP WHERE YOU ARE!... FOR MERCY'S SAKE, DON'T COME IN!"
"Ah! you are there, and alive!" she cried. "I am not too late; and I will come in!"
And in another instant she burst into the room, and stood there, her tear-stained face convulsed with the horror of finding him in such company.