The Black Box eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 389 pages of information about The Black Box.

The Black Box eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 389 pages of information about The Black Box.

Something in the nature of a conference was proceeding in Quest’s study.  The Professor was there, seated in the most comfortable easy-chair, smoking without relish one of his host’s best cigars, watching with nervous impatience the closed door.  Laura and Lenora were seated at the table, dressed for the street.  They had the air of being prepared for some excursion.  Quest, realising the Professor’s highly-strung state, had left him alone for a few moments and was studying a map of New York.  The latter, however, was too ill at ease to keep silent for long.

“Our friend French,” he remarked, “gave you no clue, I suppose, as to the direction in which his investigations are leading him?”

Quest glanced up from the map.

“None at all.  I know, however, that the house in which Lenora here was confined, is being watched closely.”

The Professor glanced towards the table before which Lenora was seated.

“It seems strange,” he continued, “that the young lady should have so little to tell us about her incarceration.”

Lenora shivered for a moment.

“What could there be to tell,” she asked, “except that it was all horrible, and that I felt things—­felt dangers—­which I couldn’t describe.”

The Professor gave vent to an impatient little exclamation.

“I am not speaking of fancies,” he persisted.  “You had food brought to you, for instance.  Could you never see the hand which placed it inside your room?  Could you hear nothing of the footsteps of the person who brought it?  Could you not even surmise whether it was a man or a woman?”

Lenora answered him with an evident effort.  She had barely, as yet, recovered from the shock of those awful hours.

“The person who brought me the food,” she said, “came at night—­never in the daytime.  I never heard anything.  The most I ever saw was once—­I happened to be looking towards the door and I saw a pair of hands—­nothing more—­setting down a tray.  I shrieked and called out.  I think that I almost fainted.  When I found courage enough to look, there was nothing there but the tray upon the floor.”

“You never heard, for instance, the rustling of a gown or the sound of a footstep?” the Professor asked.  “You could not even say whether your jailer were man or woman?”

Lenora shook her head.

“All that I ever heard was the opening of the door.  All that I ever saw was that pair of hands.  One night I fancied—­but that must have been a dream!”

“You fancied what?” the Professor persisted.

“That I saw a pair of eyes glaring at me,” Lenora replied, “eyes without any human body.  I know that I ran round the room, calling out.  When I dared to look again, there was nothing there.”

The Professor sighed as he turned away.

“It is evident, I am afraid,” he said, “that Miss Lenora’s evidence will help no one.  As an expert in these affairs, Mr. Quest, does it not seem to you that her imprisonment was just a little purposeless?  There seems to have been no attempt to harm her in any way whatever, that I can see.”

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
The Black Box from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.