“I don’t know whether you can hear me or not,” I answered in a loud voice. “But I wish to goodness you’d appear. What on earth is all this nonsense about anyway? I felt a little faint and came out of my room in search of an attendant. And I’ve been looking for one ever since. And why am I locked in?”
Then close to my ear I heard a laugh, the weirdest sound in the world when there was no one there. “I can hear you perfectly, my dear fellow, and you are as amusing as ever. If you searched for an attendant, surely you found one, eh? And I meant to ask you—did you enjoy your little chat with your sister?”
Standing motionless in the room, I ground my teeth, but tried to give no outward sign that the shot had gone home. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Ivanovitch, but this joke has gone far enough. Let me out, will you?”
I knew that it was hopeless, although I was determined to try to the end. But hope nearly left me when he spoke again.
“Come, come, Clayton, this is too bad of you! Why do you suppose the child was beaten to-night, if not to attract your attention and make you talk, so that we could verify our impressions of you? And why do you suppose the door into this passage was locked the first time and so conveniently unlocked the second, if not to guide you here? But enough of this nonsense. Our Chief is here now and will speak to you. It will be better if you listen.”
Again I stood and waited, and this time there came to may ears a voice that struck chill to my heart in spite of me. For it was as inhuman, as cold, as relentless as the sea. Of one thing I was certain, it was the voice of a man, but a man far removed from the usual run of mortals. There was an immense pride in it and an immense sense of power. But to my straining ears it did not sound the voice of a man who was entirely sane.
“Clayton,” it said, “I have heard much of you of late—too much. You have interfered with my affairs unwarrantably and to my inconvenience. Therefore you are to die.” There was a little pause here. “One of my lieutenants has begged me for your life, however, and while I will not grant that, you may choose the manner of your death. In a moment or so you will be asleep. When you wake one of my lieutenants will see you and hear your wishes. That is all.”
The voice ceased and left me standing alone in a bare room, fear and despair in my heart and cold sweat on my face. For there was a power of doom, of finality, about this voice that carried more terror and more conviction than my waning courage could stand.
But it did not matter. For though I was entirely alone and I could detect no change in the room nor in the air I breathed, my thoughts drew inward slowly, the walls of the room seemed to withdraw to an immeasurable distance, and in a moment my legs gave way under me and I sank to the floor. For a little more, consciousness of my surroundings seemed to flicker dimly, and then I plunged into the darkness of complete oblivion.
I have no exact means of telling how long it was before I came to my senses again. I only know that one moment I was not, and the next I was dimly aware of myself. I was in complete darkness now, but the air of my room was fresh with the out-of-doors.