"_You hound!_"
"Roddy! Catch him--oh, help!"
It was Constantia's call ringing through the room. I sprang about
just in time to give support as Jack fell into our interlacing arms,
and to take the most of his weight as we lowered him flat on the
hearth-rug in a dead faint.
"Call off your damned dog, sir, whoever you are!" shouted Jimmy,
running forward to help us. "We'll talk to you in a moment."
I heard Farrell call "Rover! Rover!" and the dog must have come to
heel instantly. For as I knelt, occupied in loosing Jack's collar,
of a sudden a complete hush fell on the room. Jimmy had run for the
water-bottle. "Don't ring--don't fetch Jephson!" I had commanded.
"Get water from my bedroom." When I looked up to take the bottle,
Farrell still stood implacable before the doorway.
Constantia also looked up. "Who is this gentleman?" she demanded.
"My name is Farrell," answered the figure by the doorway.
"Miss Denistoun may remember a fellow-passenger of some years ago, on
the _Emania_."
I heard the catch of her breath as she knelt by me, staring at him.
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