"Curse the wind!" she muttered.
So I stood with her, on the landing, in darkness, expecting the door in front of me to open, immediately, and admit me to the lighted chamber.
Suddenly I heard a piercing scream from within the chamber. It was the voice of Mlle. d'Arency.
"Help! Help!" she cried. "My God, he will kill me!"
This was followed by one long series of screams, and I could hear her running about the chamber as though she were fleeing from a pursuer.
I stood for an instant, startled.
"Good God!" cried the old woman at my elbow. "An assassin! Her enemies have planned it! Monsieur, save her life!"
And the dame began pounding on the door, as if to break into the room to assist her mistress.
I needed no more than this example. Discovering that the door was locked on the inside, and assuming that Mlle. d'Arency, in the flight which she maintained around the room, could not get an opportunity to draw the bolt, I threw my weight forward, and sent the door flying open on its hinges.
To my astonishment, the chamber was in complete darkness. Mlle. d'Arency had doubtless knocked the light over in her movements around the room.