"I am going to give you all some wine," said Geoffrey. "You need it. Please do not let us discuss my adventure any more. Let us drop the subject."
Ralph glided in, feeling his way into the room. He congratulated Geoffrey as coolly as he would have done in the most trite circumstances. He was acting his part in his own wooden, stupid way.
"I also have had my adventures," he croaked.
"I hope the castle is all right," Ravenspur observed.
"The same idea occurred to me," Ralph went on. "One so afflicted as myself could not be of much service on the beach, so I came back to the castle. It occurred to me as possible that our enemy would take advantage of the place being deserted. So I passed the time wandering about the corridors.
"A little time ago I heard a violent commotion and screaming outside Geoffrey's room. I got to the spot as soon as possible, but when I arrived the noise had ceased. Then I stumbled over the body of a woman."
"Not in the least," Ralph said coolly. "I picked her up, she was unconscious. My medical knowledge, picked up in all parts of the world, told me that the woman was suffering from some physical shock. That she was not in any danger her steady pulse showed. I placed her on the bed in the blue room."
"And there she is now?" Marion exclaimed.
"So far as I know," Ralph replied. "What she was doing here I haven't the slightest idea."
"And you don't know who she is?" Mrs. Gordon asked.
"How should I? I am blind. I should say that the woman was up to no good here; but I dare say it is possible that she has some decent excuse. On the other hand, she might be one of our deadly foes. Anyway, there she is, and there she is likely to be for some time to come."
"Uncle Ralph," she said, "I feel that I could shake you. Have you no feeling?"
"We can't all have your tender heart," Ralph said meekly.
Marion ignored the compliment. She took up the decanter and poured out a glass of wine.
"I am going upstairs at once," she said. "Enemy or no enemy, the poor creature cannot be neglected. You need not come, Vera."
Vera, too, had risen to her feet. She was not going to be put aside.
"But I am coming," she said. "I will not allow you to go up those stairs alone. And Geoffrey shall accompany us."