"I'm going a little way toward the house," said Ste. Marie, at last. "We can't see the terrace from here."
But before he had started they heard the sound of hurrying feet, and Richard Hartley began to curse under his breath. He said:
"Does the young idiot want to rouse the whole place? Why can't he come quietly?"
Ste. Marie began to run forward, slipping the pistol out of his pocket and holding it ready in his hand, for his quick ears told him that there was more than one pair of feet coming through the night. He went to where he could command the approach from the house and halted there, but all at once he gave a low cry and started forward again, for he saw that Arthur Benham and Coira O'Hara were running together, and that they were in desperate haste. He called out to them, and the girl cried:
"Go to the door in the wall! The door in the wall! Oh, be quick!"
He fell into step beside her, and as they ran he said,
"You're going with him? You're coming with us?"
The girl answered him, "No, no!" and she sprang to the little, low door and began to fit the iron key into the lock.
The three men stood about her, and young Arthur Benham drew his breath in great, shivering gasps that were like sobs.