Like a flash I closed my fingers on her wrist, and drew in her hand to the full length of the arm.
'If you scream, if you utter a sound, I will tear your arm from its socket.'
The answer was a shriek that might have been heard a half-mile away, and then a foul oath and a howl of pain. It was hardly a knightly deed, but there was too much at stake to mince matters; and on her scream I gave the prisoner arm I held a wrench strong enough to show that I could keep my word. As the shrill echoes of her cry died away, I could hear her breathing heavily on the opposite side of the door, and she struggled mutely and with surprising strength to free herself. There was no answer to her call for help. There must have been many a shriek for help that had rung through that terrible dungeon, and died away answerless but for the mocking echoes! And Babette knew this, for she ceased to utter a sound after that one long scream, and fought in silence like a she-wolf at bay. At last she leaned exhausted against the door, and I felt that half my game was won. It had been an unexpected thought, and I had jumped at the opportunity Providence had thrown in my way.
'Do you hear?' I said; 'open the door, or—' and I gave another half-turn to her arm.
She who could inflict such suffering on others was of those who were unable to bear the slightest pain herself. She moaned in agony and called out:
'Free me, and I promise—I promise anything.'
I only laughed and repeated my order, relieving the strain on her arm, however, so that she could slip back a half-pace or so from the wicket. Then I heard the great lock open and the chain put down, and Babette's voice trembling with anger and pain.
'It is open.'
The door swung outwards, so that all I had to do was to fold my prisoner's arm from the elbow along its face as I pushed it open. It kept her perfectly secure, and enabled me to take a precaution that, it turned out, was needed, for as I pushed the door I drove the death-hunter back with it, and the moment it was sufficiently open to let me pass, I sprang out and seized her left arm. Quick as I was, however, I was not quite quick enough to avoid the blow of her dagger, and received a flesh wound, which, however, was after all but slight. Then there was another struggle, and affairs were adjusted between Babette and myself without any special harm being done to her.
'Now listen to me,' I said. 'Whatever happens, I will kill you first if there is any treachery. Take me straight to Madame.'