--as if she felt always in the air about her
the presence of an invisible, unspeakable horror. Half dragging, half
carrying her, he crossed the hall to her room, and laid her upon the
bed, which was tumbled as if she had lain tossing wildly there for
hours. Every electric jet was blazing high, and Connie's evening clothes
were lying in a huddled heap upon the floor. There was a sickening smell
of perfume in the room, and he saw that she had broken a bottle of
extract and spilled its contents upon the carpet.

"Tell me what it is--tell me, Connie," he commanded, rather than
pleaded, sitting beside the bed and laying his hand upon her shuddering
body.

"It is nothing--but it is everything," she gasped, clutching his hand
with fingers which were cold and moist. "I am not in pain--at least not
physically, but I feel--I believe--I know that I am going mad. I see
horrible things and I can't keep them away--I can't--I can't. They come
in flashes--in coloured flashes, all red and green, and there is
something dreadful about to happen to me. Oh, don't let it, don't let
it!"

She clung to him, shuddering, sobbing, imploring, moaning again that she
was afraid, beseeching him to keep off the horror--not to let it come
any nearer--not to let it look her in the eyes. The spasm ended at last
in a wild burst of tears, while she shrieked out frantically in a terror
that was pitiable and abject. Her hallucinations seemed to have got
entirely beyond the control of reason, and as she crouched, with drawn
up knees and quivering arms, among the pillows she looked like some
small helpless, distracted mortal in the grasp of the avenging furies.
At the moment she seemed to him less his wife than his child.

"Listen to me, Connie," he said presently in a voice whose quiet
authority silenced for an instant her despairing moans. "You haven't a
trouble on earth that I am not willing to share and I am sharing this--I
have made it mine this very minute. Whatever there is to face, I'll face
it for you, so get this into your head and go to sleep. Nothing can get
to you--neither man nor devil--until it has first passed by me. There,
now--don't sob so; don't, you'll hurt yourself. There's nothing to cry
about--it's all a false alarm."

"I'm so afraid," she repeated over and over again, as she clung to him.
"Promise not to leave me an instant--not to take your hands off of me.
If I am left alone again I shall die of fear."

"You shall not be alone,