And it was through that awesome stillness that a sound suddenly struck her ear, which, in the instant, made her feel that she was not really alive, or, if alive, was sleeping and dreaming strange and impossible dreams.  It was the sound of a voice, clear and firm, and with a wonderful ring of merriment in its tones, calling out just above a whisper, and in English, if you please: 

“Look out, Ffoulkes!  That young cub is as strong as a horse.  He will give us all away if you are not careful.”

A dream?  Of course it was a dream, for the voice had sounded very close to her ear; so close, in fact, that ... well!  Esther was quite sure that her face still rested against the hideous, tattered, and grimy coat which that repulsive Rateau had been wearing all along.  And there was the click of his sabots upon the pavement all the time.  So, then, the voice and the merry, suppressed laughter which accompanied it, must all have been a part of her dream.  How long this lasted she could not have told you.  An hour and more, she thought, while the grey dawn yielded to the roseate hue of morning.  Somehow, she no longer suffered either terror or foreboding.  A subtle atmosphere of strength and of security seemed to encompass her.  At one time she felt as if she were driven along in a car that jolted horribly, and when she moved her face and hands they came in contact with things that were fresh and green and smelt of the country.  She was in darkness then, and more than three parts unconscious, but the handkerchief had been removed from her mouth.  It seemed to her as if she could hear the voice of her Jack, but far away and indistinct; also the tramp of horses’ hoofs and the creaking of cart-wheels, and at times that awful, rasping cough, which reminded her of the presence of a loathsome wretch, who should not have had a part in her soothing dream.

Thus many hours must have gone by.

Then, all at once, she was inside a house—­a room, and she felt that she was being lowered very gently to the ground.  She was on her feet, but she could not see where she was.  There was furniture; a carpet; a ceiling; the man Rateau with the sabots and the dirty coat, and the merry English voice, and a pair of deep-set blue eyes, thoughtful and lazy and infinitely kind.

But before she could properly focus what she saw, everything began to whirl and to spin around her, to dance a wild and idiotic saraband, which caused her to laugh, and to laugh, until her throat felt choked and her eyes hot; after which she remembered nothing more.

VII

The first thing of which Esther Vincent was conscious, when she returned to her senses, was of her English lover kneeling beside her.  She was lying on some kind of couch, and she could see his face in profile, for he had turned and was speaking to someone at the far end of the room.

“And was it you who knocked me down?” he was saying, “and sat on my chest, and trussed me like a fowl?”