Then Helen stepped into the hall, and James closed the door behind her. He had scarcely done so, before she gave a little cry and fell to the floor in a dead faint. Picking her up, Jim carried her to the big settee in the centre.
"My poor girl," he cried, "what has he done to you?" Then, turning to Alice, he added, "What can have happened?"
She did not answer him, but sped upstairs to her bedroom, to presently return with a bottle of smelling salts. Under their restorative influence, consciousness very soon returned, and Helen looked about her in a dazed fashion, as if she could not realise where she was.
"Do you feel well enough to tell what has taken place, dear?" Jim asked, when she had so far recovered as to be able to sit up. "What has brought you here bareheaded at this time of night?"
"My grandfather has turned me out of his house," she answered falteringly.
"Turned you out of the house?" repeated both Jim and Alice together. Then Alice added: "Surely not? He ought to be turned out himself."
"You must not be angry with him," said Helen. "I really don't think he knows what he is doing."
"But this is an unheard-of thing," Jim said angrily. "He must have taken leave of his senses."
"He accused me of being in league with you to poison him, and bade me come to an instant decision as to whether I would give you up or leave the house."
"And my noble girl refused to give me up?" said James, kissing her hand.