"You were walking in your sleep. Oh, Babs, you've given us all such a fright! D'you know, you'd actually got outside.... Anything might have happened to you!"
Barbara looked from her mother to the policeman.
"Outside?" she repeated.
"You'd unlocked the door and pushed back both bolts—Aston's quite sure he bolted top and bottom——"
"And I went out like this?" Barbara interrupted. She pulled up the end of the rug and found that she was barefooted and in her nightdress. "I can't remember.... I went to bed; I do remember that it was very hot and that I walked about the room...."
The policeman coughed and prepared to retire. Lady Crawleigh despatched the maid for her purse, but Barbara was too much dazed even to thank him. A dream which had been wonderfully vivid a moment before was fading from her recollection, driven out scene by scene at the sound of her mother's frightened voice. She had fancied that she was again sitting with Mrs. Savage and that the flicker of kindliness which had for a moment lighted up the gaunt face and smouldering dark eyes was once more visible. In another moment everything would have been told....
"I suppose I was going for a walk. What's the time?"
"It's one o'clock," answered Lady Crawleigh. "I sat up to finish some writing.... My darling child, are you sure you're all right now?"
Barbara stood for a moment to test her strength and then walked to the stairs.
"Yes, thanks. I'll go back to bed now. I'm sorry to have frightened everybody."