Once out of the smell of the
stables she began to question me again. She was unwilling to believe that
nothing had occurred in her absence. I invented the best answers I could
think of on the spur of the moment; and the doctor stood by laughing. So
the minutes passed till the clock struck two. Upon that, Mrs. Fairbank
announced her intention of personally visiting the Englishman in his room.
To my great relief, the doctor interfered to stop her from doing this.
"You have heard that Francis is just falling asleep," he said. "If you
enter his room you may disturb him. It is essential to the success of my
experiment that he should have a good night's rest, and that he should own
it himself, before I tell him the truth. I must request, madam, that you
will not disturb the man. Rigobert will ring the alarm bell if anything
happens."
My mistress was unwilling to yield. For the next five minutes, at least,
there was a warm discussion between the two. In the end Mrs. Fairbank was
obliged to give way--for the time. "In half an hour," she said, "Francis
will either be sound asleep, or awake again. In half an hour I shall come
back." She took the doctor's arm. They returned together to the house.
Left by myself, with half an hour before me, I resolved to take the
Englishwoman back to the village--then, returning to the stables, to
remove the gag and the bindings from Francis, and to let him screech to
his heart's content.
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