"Julie!" he hissed in a stage whisper. "My wife!"
"Marc!" Julie's voice called distinctly. "Marc! Where are you? What was all that noise?"
Marc turned to Toffee. "Go!" he said. "Vanish!"
Toffee gazed blandly on his distress. "I can't," she said, "unless you go to sleep, of course. I couldn't if I wanted to. Which I don't."
"Oh, Lord!" Marc groaned. He stood for a moment, torn.
"Marc!"
Julie was approaching the basement doorway now.
"I've got to go," Marc rasped. "You stay here. Promise?"
Toffee smiled and nodded. "Sure," she said. "But you'll come back, won't you? Because if you don't I'll stir up enough hell down here to raise the dead."
"I'll come back," Marc promised desperately, and started rapidly toward the steps.