"I swam over from the shore," she answered breathlessly. "I landed on the saltings just opposite the garden."
"You did what?" I exclaimed. I stared at her in amazement. "You swam in the dark across the estuary?"
She nodded.
"There was no other way of reaching the island. Marie had promised to send you a message by Jimmy, but instead of keeping her word she must have given it to Dr. Manning. He came to my room and told me what he was going to do. I made up my mind then that as soon as they started I would try to follow them. I got out through the window and I managed to climb down by the creeper. I thought the tide would be too strong for me, but I didn't care either way. If I wasn't in time to help you, I just wanted to be drowned."
She stopped, and her eyes fell upon an old-fashioned American bowie knife which was hanging from the wall at the head of the stairs. With a quick movement she stepped forward, and, unhooking it from the nail, began to saw away feverishly at the ropes which fastened me to the banisters.
She had just cut through the first strand when I suddenly realised that at any moment Manning might return.
"Shut the door before you do anything else," I explained. "Lock it and bolt it top and bottom. If they guess where you are——"
I had no need to finish, for Christine hurried off at once, and, forgetting my injured shoulder in the excitement of the moment, I gave an impatient tug at the nearly severed cord. I was rewarded by such a stab of pain that before I could stop it an involuntary grunt broke from my lips.
"What is it? What's the matter? You are hurt after all!"
With a face whiter than ever, and her eyes full of concern, Christine had hastened to where I was standing.