"I don't blame you for running," he said, stunned.
"I do not blame myself. I ran. I fled, distracted, from that terrible house! I left word for my maid to pack and follow me to Ormond. I caught the first train I could catch. For the next three months I propose to continue my flight if—if necessary. And I fear it will be necessary."[239]
"Finding his overcoat in your stateroom must have been a dreadful shock to you," he said, pityingly.
"Imagine! But when, not an hour ago, I saw his name on the register at the Hotel Royal Orchid—directly under my name!—can you—oh, can you imagine my utter terror?"
Her voice broke and she leaned up against the side of the car, so white, so quivering, so utterly demoralised by fear, that, alarmed, he took her trembling hands firmly in his.
"You mustn't give way," he said. "This won't do. You must show courage."
"How can I show courage when I'm f-frightened?"
"You must not be frightened, because—because I am going to stand by you. I am going to stand by you very firmly. I am going to see this matter through."
"Are you? It is so—so kind of you—so good—so generous.... Because it's uncanny enough to frighten even a man. You see we don't know what we're fighting. We're threatened by—by the occult! By unseen f-forces.... How could that man be in St. Augustine?"
He drew a long breath. "I am going to tell you something.... May I?"[240]