Pybus appeared to be endeavouring to persuade Mrs. Chalmers to join him in the mazy dance. The lady had suddenly become still, which, for some reasons, the chief one being the noise which Hughes was making, was perhaps as well.
"How can I pull her off the couch," answered Pybus, "when she's in a fit, or dead, or something?"
Up jumped Hughes.
"Keep going, you two! Don't stop for a single instant. Lucas, everything depends upon your keeping Miss Hammond circulating."
"I can't," I said.
"Nor can I," said Margaret.
The utterances were almost simultaneous. Simultaneously we sank into an ottoman.
"Mrs. Chalmers! Mrs. Chalmers!" shouted Hughes, "Pybus, help me to lift her off the couch. Now, then, you two, what have you stopped for?"
He turned to Margaret and me. Something in our faces or in our attitudes appeared to frighten him. He ran to the door yelling in a manner which absolutely frightened me.
"Brooks! Brooks! Oh, my God, why doesn't the doctor come?"