It was an hour afterward ere consciousness returned to Jay Gardiner. For a moment he was dazed, bewildered; then the recollection of the encounter, and the terrible blow he had received over the temple, recurred to him.
Where was he? The darkness and silence of death reigned. The air was musty. He lay upon a stone flagging through which the slime oozed.
Like a flash he remembered the words of Jasper Wilde.
"Take him to my private wine-cellar until I have time to attend to him."
Yes, that was where he must be—in Wilde's wine-cellar.
While he was cogitating over this scene, an iron door at the further end of the apartment opened, and a man, carrying a lantern, hastily entered the place, and stood on the threshold for a moment.
Doctor Gardiner saw at once that it was Jasper Wilde.
"Come to, have you?" cried Wilde, swinging the light in his face. "Well, how do you like your quarters, my handsome, aristocratic doctor, eh?"
"How dare you hold me a prisoner here?" demanded Jay Gardiner, striking the floor with his manacled hands. "Release me at once, I say!"
A sneering laugh broke from Wilde's thin lips.