Dunbar laughed. "I sort of feel we're going to have a chance yet. After all, he's been probably playing with us, trying to frighten us. There'll be nothing in it, you see. Anyway I'll get a crack at his skull, and now that I've got you, Hesther, I wouldn't give up this night for all the wealth of the Indies. I don't know about life or death. I've never thought much about it, to tell you the honest truth, but I bet that any one who's as fond of any one as I am of you can't be very far away whatever happens to their body."
"There goes six."
The red lacquer clock struck. Hesther flung her arms around Harkness and kissed him, then Dunbar.
They all stood listening. Just as the clock ceased there was a knock at the door.
V
Harkness went to the door and opened it; not Crispin, as he had expected, but one of the Japanese.
For the first time he spoke:
"Beg your pardon, sir. The master would be glad you see him upstairs." Harkness did not look back. He knew that Dunbar and Hesther were clasped tightly in one another's arms. He walked out closing the door behind him. He stood with the Japanese in the small space waiting. It was a dim subdued light out here. You could only see the thick stone steps of the circular staircase winding upwards out of sight. Harkness's brain was working now with feverish activity. Whatever Crispin's devilish plan might be he would be there to watch the climax of it. If Harkness and Dunbar were quick enough they could surely have Crispin throttled before the Japanese were in time; without Crispin it was likely enough that the Japanese would be passive. This was no affair of theirs. They simply obeyed their master's orders.
He wondered why he had not attempted something in that room just now, why, indeed, he had prevented Dunbar; but some instinct had told him then that Crispin was longing to shame them in some way before Hesther. He had then an almost overpowering impulse to turn back, run into that room, fling his arms about Hesther and hold her until those devils pulled them apart. It was an impulse that rose blinding his eyes, deafening his ears, stunning his brain. He half turned. The door opened and Dunbar came out. Harkness sighed with relief. At the sight of Dunbar the temptation left him.
They mounted the stairs, one Japanese in front of them, the other behind. At the next break in the flight the Japanese turned and opened a door on the left.