The first remark she made, which was upon the weather, elicited no reply whatever from Mr. Richard. Then she turned towards him, and asked in very distinct and deliberate tones whether he had ever been in the barn before. She thought he seemed to understand the question, and that the shake of the head he gave was his answer. But still he uttered no word.
When they had come near the door, Mr. Richard stumbled, his feet having been caught in a tangle of old rope and sacking which lay upon the floor. The key fell from his hand. He did not appear to notice this, however, although Chris heard the loud clang with which it touched the brick floor.
“You have dropped the key,” she said, as he walked on.
As he took no notice still, she went down on her knees, groping among the rubbish with which the place was strewn. He turned, and seemed to look at her with surprise. But he did not ask her what she was looking for.
“It’s the key. Don’t you see you have dropped the key?” she cried, her alarm again roused by this apparently wilful obtuseness. “Please let me have the lantern one moment.”
To her horror, he began to utter the strange sounds which she had sometimes heard issuing from the east wing, and she was so much shocked, that she instinctively put up her hands to her ears, while her face assumed an expression of the utmost terror. Then Mr. Richard fell into sudden silence. For a few seconds he stood looking at her as she knelt on the ground; then he seated himself on an empty wine-case which was among the lumber, put his head in his hands, and heaved a deep sigh.
At that moment, Chris caught sight of the key, which had fallen behind a little heap of tins which had once contained tobacco. In snatching it up she knocked it against one of the tins, making a great clatter. But the noise appeared not to disturb the madman, who did not even look up when Chris rose to her feet, although she trod on some ends of board and set them rattling. She feared he was only pretending to be unobservant, and that she should not be able to get to the door before he made the attack upon her which his mysterious conduct led her to expect.
She must, however, make the attempt and trust to her luck. She began by taking two or three cautious steps; and then, when she was close to him, she set off at a run. But she had hardly done so when he started up and, uttering another of the weird cries which so much alarmed her, came in pursuit, and reached the door as soon as she did.
Not all her self-command could help poor Chris to stifle the scream which she had suppressed before. And then, remembering that after all her screams were her best chance of escape, as the stable was so near that one of the men might hear them, she put her mouth to the keyhole of the door, and called loudly for help.
At once Mr. Richard put his hand over her mouth. For a moment she could not move, she could not even try to cry out again. Remembering his savage fury on the day when he had thrown the goblet out of the window, she gave herself up for lost, believing that he would dash her down senseless upon the hard floor. For a long time, as it seemed to her, though it was really the work of a few seconds, he kept one hand upon her mouth, and held both her hands with the other. He uttered from time to time a curious sound, which was more like a low moan of distress than a cry of fury, and though he held her so that it was impossible for her to escape, she could not even fancy that he hurt her.