I suddenly heard my mistress's voice calling to
me from the stable yard.
There was no time to think--there was only time to act. The one thing
needed was to keep Mrs. Fairbank from ascending the stairs, and
discovering--not my lady guest only--but the Englishman also, gagged and
bound on his bed. I instantly hurried to the yard. As I ran down the
stairs I heard the stable clock strike the quarter to two in the morning.
My mistress was eager and agitated. The doctor (in attendance on her) was
smiling to himself, like a man amused at his own thoughts.
"Is Francis awake or asleep?" Mrs. Fairbank inquired.
"He has been a little restless, madam. But he is now quiet again. If he is
not disturbed" (I added those words to prevent her from ascending the
stairs), "he will soon fall off into a quiet sleep."
"Has nothing happened since I was here last?"
"Nothing, madam."
The doctor lifted his eyebrows with a comical look of distress. "Alas,
alas, Mrs. Fairbank!" he said. "Nothing has happened! The days of romance
are over!"
"It is not two o'clock yet," my mistress answered, a little irritably.
The smell of the stables was strong on the morning air. She put her
handkerchief to her nose and led the way out of the yard by the north
entrance--the entrance communicating with the gardens and the house. I was
ordered to follow her, along with the doctor.
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