Ere I could stop him he was behind the screen,—I had not seen him move with such agility before!—and before I could expostulate Marjorie was in the room. Something which was in her bearing, in her face, in her eyes, quickened the beating of my pulses,—she looked as if something had come into her life, and taken the joy clean out of it.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE TERROR IN THE NIGHT
‘Sydney!’ she cried, ‘I’m so glad that I can see you!’
She might be,—but, at that moment, I could scarcely assert that I was a sharer of her joy.
‘I told you that if trouble overtook me I should come to you, and—I’m in trouble now. Such strange trouble.’
So was I,—and in perplexity as well. An idea occurred to me,—I would outwit her eavesdropping father.
‘Come with me into the house,—tell me all about it there.’
She refused to budge.
‘No,—I will tell you all about it here.’ She looked about her,—as it struck me queerly. ‘This is just the sort of place in which to unfold a tale like mine. It looks uncanny.’
‘But—’