Page:The Whisper on the Stair by Lyon Mearson (1924).djvu/241

 say. If you’re a gentleman, you’ll do as I ask.” She moved toward the door, an unmistakable sign that the interview was at an end. There was nothing for Val to do but bow and take his leave in silence, which he did, his head whirling dizzily from the suddenness of the let-down.

Without a word Val and Eddie walked around the house to the road where their car was cached. The rain had eased up a little now, and it was warmer, though Val did not notice these elemental changes in the least degree. It was a shock to the tense nerves of both of them when a small feminine figure suddenly stepped out in front of them from the shadows that lined the bushes at the side of the road.

“Mr. Morley!” she said in a whisper.

“Hello! What’s all this?” muttered Val to himself. He and Eddie stopped dead in their tracks.

“It’s me—Elizabeth—Miss Pomeroy’s servant,” said the voice.

“Oh, yes. What is it, Elizabeth?” Val asked kindly.

“Why, it’s about Miss Jessica,” said the old woman. “I—I heard what she was saying to you. You mustn’t mind what she says, Mr. Morley. I—know her true feelings in the matter—anything she said to you to-night is not herself speaking. It’s that devil Teck—he can make her say and do things she would never think of doing. He’s a kind of hypnotist—can make her say anything he likes by just looking deep in her eyes; that’s how she happened to come down here, you know,” the old woman hurried on in her recital.

“Down here?” queried Val.

“Yes. She wasn’t going to come—but he looked into her eyes and said she’d have to come—and here she is—that handless hypocrite! He told her what to say to