“You make me feel rather—rather creepy! What do you really think I shall see?”
“A face at the window probably. The face of the spy from your house. What else can she have seen?”
Mabin considered a moment.
“I’ll risk it!” she cried at last. “I shan’t go to bed at all. I shall sit up and watch.”
“I wish you would. We should find out something if you had the strength of mind to do that.”
Not without a wild beating of the heart, Mabin undertook the task of holding the strange night-watch, without saying a word to Mrs. Dale of her intention.
“She thinks she only had a dreadful dream, you know,” said Mabin.
“Well,” replied Rudolph, “I want to know what sort of dream you will have.”
He had to admire the courage she showed in undertaking a task which was, as she expressed it, “rather shuddery,” but when he left her at the gate of “The Towers” she was still steadfast in her intention.
It was not until after dinner that evening that Mrs. Dale introduced the young girl to the apartment she was to occupy that night. Mabin was astonished at its dinginess, its gloominess, contrasting so strongly as they did with the fresh prettiness of the room which had been prepared for herself.