'Let me go,' she whispered. 'I won't help you. I'm afraid.'
'You must,' he said. 'You must.'
'No.'
'I tell you, you must come.'
'Why?'
Her deadly fear expressed itself in a passion of sudden anger.
'Because you love me, and it's the only way to give me peace.'
She uttered a low wail of pain, and her terror gave way to shame. She
blushed to the roots of her hair because he too knew her secret. And then
she was seized again with anger because he had the cruelty to taunt her
with it. She had recovered her courage now, and she stepped forward. Dr.
Porhoet told her where to stand. Arthur took his place in front of her.
'You must not move till I give you leave. If you go outside the figure I
have drawn, I cannot protect you.'
For a moment Dr Porhoet stood in perfect silence. Then he began to recite
strange words in Latin. Susie heard him but vaguely. She did not know the
sense, and his voice was so low that she could not have distinguished the
words. But his intonation had lost that gentle irony which was habitual
to him, and he spoke with a trembling gravity that was extraordinarily
impressive.
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