Of that wild rush through the night Frances never recalled any very
clear detail afterwards. She only knew a strange dazzle of moonlight
that filled the world, making all things seem unreal, and once she
fancied she caught a glimpse of the Stones grimly outlined upon a
distant hill.
Her companion never spoke to her, his whole attention apparently being
occupied in forcing the utmost speed from his car, despite the extreme
unevenness of the moorland road they travelled. In the end they ran into
a little town and straight up the one broad street in an inn, Frances
always remembered the sign-board of that inn, for it was the first thing
that made a definite impression upon her after her flight. The inn was
called _The Man in the Moon_, and the sign-board portrayed the same,
being an enormous yellow face with the most quizzing expression possible
to imagine—a face that would have provoked a smile from the least
humorous. Somehow that face served to jolt Frances back to the ordinary
and the commonplace. It enabled her to put the overwhelming sense of
tragedy away from her and assume something of her old brisk and
business-like attitude.
“Is this where you are staying?” she said.
“Yes,” said Rotherby. “It’s comfortable enough in a homely way. Will you
get out?”
She turned in the seat and faced him. By the light of the moon he looked
ghastly pale, but he managed to call up a smile.
“If there is another inn in the place I’ll go to it,” said Frances.
“I’m afraid there isn’t,” said Rotherby. “And you probably wouldn’t get
in if there were. But you needn’t be anxious on that account. I’ll call
you my sister if you like.”
His manner reassured her. Moreover, he had the look of a man at the end
of his strength. She wondered what had happened to affect him so.
She got out of the car without further discussion and waited while he
ran it under an archway into the stableyard. It seemed a long while
before he joined her again, and then she noticed that he moved with a
curiously halting gait, almost as if he were feeling his way.
“It’s all right,” he said, as he reached her. “The door’s open. Come
inside!”
He extended a hand to push it back for her, but very strangely the
intention was frustrated. It was as if he had found some obstacle in his
path. And as she turned towards him in surprise he suddenly uttered an
inarticulate exclamation and grabbed at her arm. She was aware of his
whole weight flung abruptly upon her, and she caught at him, supporting
him as best she could.
He staggered against the door-post, breathing heavily. “I shall be all
right in a minute—in a minute,” he gasped out. “Just hold me up—if you
can! I won’t faint.”
She held him up, exerting all her strength.
Several dreadful seconds passed, then he made a determined effort and
straightened himself. As he did so, she felt the sleeve of his coat at
the elbow and found it wet through. A ghastly doubt assailed her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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