“Then he was upon us. My knees gave under me. Macbeth is a little man. Lerne flung him to the ground. They struggle. Blood flows. Your uncle uses his feet and teeth and nails ferociously.
“I scream and tear at his clothes. Suddenly he picks himself up. Macbeth is in a faint, and then, Lerne gives a wild laugh, flings him over his shoulder, and carries him off to the laboratory.
“I keep shouting, and then I had a sudden idea.
“‘Nell, Nell!’ I cried.
“The dog came up. I pointed out the group to her, and she dashed off at the moment when Lerne was disappearing behind the trees with his burden. She disappeared also.
“I listen. She barks, and suddenly I can distinguish nothing more than the rustle of the snow.
“Lerne dragged me about by the hair. It required all my belief in his promise, and all his assurance of a glorious future, to stop me from running away that very day.
“But, having caught me deceiving him, he only loved me the more ardently.
“Days passed. I hardly dared hope that Macbeth had got off as easily as Klotz—and been sent away. Neither he nor his dog appeared again.