Page:Doughty--Mirrikh or A woman from Mars.djvu/87

 Nagkon Wat; the man who had saved the Doctor from the fury of the tiger; Mirrikh in full flesh, as tangible and  material as Philpot or Maurice; and when from his face I  turned my eyes toward the shawl, there it hung before the  door swaying with the wind, not a rent in it—not even the  pins by which the Doctor had fastened it to the wood-work  disturbed.

“George! George!” called Maurice. “Speak! Don't look that way if you have the least consideration for my feelings. Old fellow, all this has been too much”

“It’s all right,” I interrupted. “Nothing ails me. Let me get up, will you? I shall be right in a moment.”

“Nothing ails you? What do you mean then by frightening us to death, tumbling over into the fire?” Philpot cried. But I never heeded him. I sprang up just in time to meet the eyes of that wonderful man.

“Mr. Wylde! I am very sorry. I am afraid my abrupt entrance startled you,” he said gently. “You have had a hard day of it; and the storm has affected your nerves. Try a few drops of this mixture. It will put you right in a moment. You need not be afraid of it—it is a simple remedy prepared by myself.”

“I don’t want any of it,” I answered almost roughly. “Maurice, your brandy flask.”

I drank before attempting to speak again. Not for worlds would I have tasted the contents of that bottle then.

“How came he here?” I whispered to my friend.

“Positively I don't know, George. I saw you fall and sprang to catch you. When I looked up, there he was.”

I shuddered and said no more. Just then my eyes discovered another mystery. Mr. Mirrikh wore the same clothing as usual, and every stitch was as dry as the traditional bone!

Philpot, however, was in no mood for silence. I could see by the way his eyes snapped that he was all ready for  the fray.

“Probably it was your sudden appearance among us, sir, that startled Mr. Wylde,” he began—we were standing, Maurice and I, on one side of the fire, and they two on the other—“positively you startled even me.”

“For which I am very sorry. If Mr. Wylde will only consent to take a few drops ”

“Which he wont. Look here, sir, where did you come from?”