It was as if she (ashamed of her own weakness) had resolved to punish him for presumption. He smarted under her indifference, but made no open protest, though his hand (in the pocket of his coat) rested upon the jeweled sign of her self-surrender.
She lost a little of her indifference when she learned that Bartol had been kept awake all night by the significance of the phenomena he had witnessed, and she joined heartily in declaring that he must be met in every demand. "Oh, I wish I might see the experiments," she exclaimed.
"He wishes you to do so," replied Victor, eagerly. "The Voices told him to have you in the circle, you and Mrs. Joyce--"
"And Marie," added Mrs. Ollnee. "Marie is psychic."
"When do we try?" asked Leo, meeting his eyes a little unsteadily, so it seemed to him.
Again Mrs. Ollnee answered for him. "To-night; Mr. Bartol is telephoning now, arranging for it."
"I hear him!" exclaimed Mrs. Joyce, listening intently.
Mrs. Ollnee again replied. "He says: '_Be brave--trust us. We will protect you._'"
Looking across at the girl, in whose cheeks the roses were beginning to bloom again, the youth resented the interposition of the supernatural. He was eager to approach her, to hint at the memory of her secret, sweet embrace. As he studied the exquisite curve of her lips their touch burned again upon his flesh, and he rose with sudden reassertion of himself. "Come, Leo, let's return to Morselli."
He had never called her by her first name before, and it produced a shock in them both. She looked her reproof, but he pretended not to see it, and neither Mrs. Joyce nor Mrs. Ollnee seemed to think his familiarity worthy of remark.
Leo coldly answered: "I can only give a little time. We must go home to-day."
Mrs. Joyce promptly said, "We can't desert the ship now, Leo."
"But we have nothing to wear!" the girl retorted.
"We'll send down and have some things brought up. Really, this work for Mr. Bartol is more important than clothes."
"I suppose it is," Leo admitted. "But at the same time one should have a decent regard to the conventions."
The colloquy which followed filled Victor with dismay. It appeared that Leo was really eager to get away, as if she felt herself to be in a false position. "I can't afford to drop my daily affairs in the city. Why can't these experiments be put off for a day or two."