She made one more effort to burst her bonds.
She strained until the veins were swollen out on her face and neck like whipcords, and seemed on the point of bursting.
But the work of tying her had been too well done, and she finally fell back in a state of utter exhaustion, with moan after moan coming in a sort of ripple.
"What!" exclaimed the fiendish hag; "make such a fuss about a little one like that, which came out so easily? Why, I should have considered that one a pleasure. Just wait until I get hold of the big one. Ha, ha! that's where the fun comes in. You see, it's more deeply rooted, and I've seen some I wasn't strong enough to pull until I rigged up a sort of tackle I have for the purpose."
Helen shuddered.
And well she might.
Poor girl!
It was monstrous that the law should permit the existence of such places—such private mad-houses—where such infernal wickedness can be enacted.
Tige was grinning like a hyena.
She made one or two feints of pursuing her hideous work, and then halted to gloat over the shudder which each time thrilled her victim's frame.