Page:Randall Parrish--My Lady of the South.djvu/265

WE ORGANIZE A SORTIE as to startle me by its nearness; apparently there was nothing between us but the thin steel of the fire-screen.

"Are—are you telling me the truth?"

"As God is my witness, yes; I am alone, and O'Brien is with Donald. If you care to save his life you must let me through."

"But I cannot! I do not know how the door opens."

"Pull straight upward on the andiron farthest to the north."

She obeyed without the slightest hesitation, and the mantel swung so suddenly I barely escaped being struck. The next instant, lantern still in hand, I was beside her, noting how she shrank back, half frightened, at my quick appearance from out the black recess.

"Don't be alarmed," I exclaimed hastily, feeling nothing must longer delay my plans. "No, you are not to go into that hole alone. There is something mysterious about the passage; we found Donald with his throat slashed, exactly as those others were, only he still lives, and I believe will recover. I mean to take you to him in a moment, but you must wait here until I come back. You will, will you not? I can trust you?"

Her face was white, her eyes full of appeal.

Yes, yes, but—out are you certain he will live?"

Even then these words, the deep feeling in the voice, hurt, almost angered me. There had been a time, a few brief hours only, when she actually seemed mine, not only through the formality of that strange marriage ceremony, but by reason of the awakening of her own heart. I recognized now how utterly foolish this dream was, yet I [ 251 ]