"Madeline! Eliot! Oh, Eliot...."
"We've awakened her," said Madeline Braine, contritely, hurrying toward the inner door. But Giles Ilingsworth interrupted her flight and caught her as in a grip of iron.
"Just wait a moment, if you please," he said.
Again the voice raised itself in supplication.
"Madeline! Eliot...."
"You recognised a voice," said Ilingsworth to Beekman, "but I recognise a voice, too." He caught up the lamp and started for the next room, but Beekman was before him standing at the threshold.
"That's a bedroom," he explained.
"Let go of me, Beekman!" cried the old man. "I know what I'm about!" And with a steady step he marched on into the next room.
All of a sudden a loud cry, a woman's cry of sudden joy, reached their ears. Madeline hastened in. The next instant, while Leslie and Beekman stood facing one another, they heard a muffled groan and Ilingsworth came out again. Holding up the light to Beekman's eyes, he looked into them sternly.