"Then let me tell you this," she said quietly. "If you seek to enter with me you will place me in danger. You will,—but never mind. If you desire to befriend me, I beseech you not to enter with me. Even now, even by being with you here, I may be writing my own death warrant. Oh, you do not know, you do not know! If you desire to go there," and here she pointed towards the light that still twinkled from the window, "well go, although I would beseech you never to seek to penetrate those walls. But do not come with me now. If you do I am undone."
She spoke in a low tone, scarcely above a whisper, but there was such intensity in her voice, almost amounting to agony, that my heart failed me. Moreover I considered that if I went with her I should not be able to discover the thing I desired. I reflected that above everything my work must be done in secret, and to go with her would be out of accord with the plans I had been formulating.
"Has the person who caused the light to shine there power over you?" I asked.
"I will answer you nothing. Find out what you will and how you will, but do not seek to go with me."
I do not think she fully realized what she was saying, so eager was she to be alone. I could see that she desired at all costs to be rid of me, and at that moment I thought of a plan whereby I could seemingly yield to her desires and still have my own way.
"But what would you have me do?" I asked.
"You desire to help me?"
"Yes. I have said so. Nay, I am determined to protect you."
She hesitated a second.
"Then stay here until I return. I shall not be long, at least I do not think so."