"My dear," he pleaded.
"Don't speak to me again!"
"Please——"
"Get out of this room!"
He stood rooted to the spot in helpless stupor and she threw her little body against his with sudden fury, pushing him toward the door. "Get out, I say!"
He staggered back helplessly and awkwardly amazed at her strength as she pushed him into the hall. She stood a moment towering in the white frame of the door, the picture of an avenging angel to his tormented soul. Through teeth chattering with hysterical emotion she cried:
"Go, you leper! And don't you ever dare to cross this door-sill again—not even to look on my dead face!"
"For God's sake, don't!" he gasped, staggering toward her.
But the door slammed in his face and the bolt suddenly shot into its place.
He knocked gently and received no answer. An ominous stillness reigned within. He called again and again without response. He waited patiently for half an hour and knocked once more. An agony of fear chilled him. She might be dead. He knelt, pressed his ear close to the keyhole and heard a long, low, pitiful sob from her bed.