..
Some awful power, greater than my will, seemed stretching its
tentacles from the darkness: I felt them dragging at me, certain,
remorseless, growing stronger and stronger ...
With something very like a shriek of terror, I tore myself away, out
of the entry, into the hall, to the stairs, and down them into the
lighted room below.
And as I stood there, gasping for breath, Godfrey followed me, and I
saw that his face, too, was livid.
CHAPTER VIII
A FRESH ENIGMA
Godfrey met my eyes with a little deprecating smile, put his torch in
one pocket, took a handkerchief from another, and mopped his forehead.
"Rather nerve-racking, wasn't it, Lester?" he remarked, and then his
gaze wandered to the couch, and he stepped toward it quickly.
I saw that a change had come in Miss Vaughan's condition. Her eyes
were still closed, but her body no longer lay inert and lifeless, for
from moment to moment it was shaken by a severe nervous tremor.
Godfrey's face was very grave as he looked at her.
"Stop stroking her wrists, Swain," he said; "that does no good," and
when Swain, without answering or seeming to hear, kept on stroking
them, Godfrey drew the hands away, took Swain by the arm, and
half-lifted him to his feet.
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