II

She was on her feet, halfway to the window in a mindless flight, when Galen’s hand caught her arm. His grip was as hard as steel.

“I’m sorry, I meant to warn you,” he said; the even voice contrasted alarmingly with the intensity of the hard hand on her wrist. “He came more promptly than I expected. Trust me, Linda. This has to be done.”

Without waiting for an answer, he turned to Michael.

“Just keep quiet,” he said rapidly. “Don’t look surprised, at whatever I say, and don’t contradict me or volunteer anything. If you weren’t half-witted tonight, I wouldn’t have to tell you-”

There was no time for further speech. The door of the study opened. Linda had a glimpse of the impassive manservant who had admitted them to the house; behind him was Gordon.

Without meaning to move, Linda managed to get behind Galen. He had released his grip on her arm. There was no need for further constraint, and he must have known it. She was as incapable of movement as she was of speech.

Gordon’s fine dark eyes moved slowly over the three faces confronting him.

“My poor little errant wife,” he said, “and-friend. I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting you, Dr. Rosenberg, but of course your reputation is well known. It was good of you to call me.”

“Sit down, Mr. Randolph,” Galen said equably. He did not, Linda noticed, offer the other man his hand.

Gordon took the chair indicated. He seemed perfectly at ease, except for the weariness in his face-normal in a man who has been trying to track down an insane wife.

Carefully, he did not look at Linda. He was acting again, and doing it well, simulating wary concern, pretending he didn’t want to frighten her… He looked at Michael instead, and a pathetic shadow of his old charming smile touched his mouth.

“Sorry, Mike. I’ve been a little off my head the last few days, or I wouldn’t have thought-what I’ve been thinking. And all the time you were planning this. I’m eternally in your debt.”

It was a little obvious, even for Gordon. Linda knew quite well what he was doing, but being able to analyze his methods did not make her immune. Huddled on the low hassock where Galen’s ruthless arm had deposited her, she fought a doubt she had thought long conquered-doubt of Michael, and of the doctor to whom he had brought her.

Michael said nothing. He was standing, as if he felt more secure on his feet. His wooden-faced silence did nothing to relieve Linda’s doubts.

The silence deepened. Galen, who had seated himself behind his desk, picked up a pen and began scribbling with it. His eyes intent on the meaningless doodles with which he disfigured the pristine surface of the desk blotter, he was humming under his breath, and-Linda realized-flatting badly.

It was a crude trick, but Gordon succumbed. Linda didn’t see the crack in the barrier at first, it was so small. Only later, when she recalled the interview, did she appreciate Galen’s over-all strategy.

“I’m grateful to you, too, Doctor,” Gordon said. “But I don’t quite understand…May I speak to you alone?”

“Why?”

Galen did not look up from his doodling. Critically he studied a scribble which looked like an arrow, and carefully added three oblique lines to represent the feather at the end of the shaft.

“To discuss what’s to be done.”

“That concerns all of us,” Galen pointed out. “Your wife has told me a very disturbing story, Mr. Randolph.”

He looked up; and Linda, who had felt the full effect of that passionless stare, was not surprised to see Gordon recoil slightly.

“Disturbing?” he repeated.

Galen, who had returned to his drawing, nodded vaguely.

“In what way?”

Galen shook his head and went on doodling. By now the precise movements of his pen had caught everyone’s attention. Gordon was almost craning his neck to watch, and the distraction had shaken his concentration.

“I must insist, Doctor,” he said; his voice was no longer pleasant.

“On what grounds?”

“Why-because she is my wife. I have the right-”

“You have no right.” Galen’s voice was remote. “Your wife has placed herself under my care. I called you in to ask you about certain statements she has made, not to report to you.”

Gordon rose to his feet in a single powerful surge, his face distorted by the expression few people other than Linda had seen. Disregarding his instructions, Michael took a step forward, but it was Galen who stopped Randolph, with a single small gesture of his right hand, so quickly done that Linda could not have described it.

The effect on Gordon was astounding. He fell back, his face losing its color. Then, as if compelled, he leaned forward and looked at the drawing Galen had made.

“The College,” he said, in a choked voice. “You are one-”

“Oh, yes,” Galen said cheerfully.

Because she was sitting by the desk, next to his right hand, Linda was the only one who saw that hand move. A long index finger flicked a switch; and all the lights went out.

With the curtains drawn and the door closed, the room was plunged into primeval blackness. Linda heard the long, shaken intake of breath that came from Gordon; it went on so long it seemed impossible that human lungs could hold so much air. Then it burst out, in a sound that shocked the brain and senses as it affronted the ears. She heard a heavy chair fall, and the rush of something through the dark, and she dropped to the floor, crouching, for fear his blind rush would bring him to her. He found the door, after an interval that seemed interminable; the light from the hall was yellow and comforting, silhouetting his tall body. Then he was gone. The front door slammed, waking echoes from the lovely crystal chandelier in the hall.

The lights came on again.

“Hmph,” Galen said.

Crouching on the floor behind his chair, Linda was busy shaking. A pair of hands caught her by the shoulders and hauled her to her feet. She stared into Michael’s face.

“You all right?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, but dumped her unceremoniously on the hassock, and wheeled on the figure pensively posed behind the desk.

“What College, you congenital liar?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea,” Galen said placidly.

“Another lie…The drawing. What is it?”

Galen stirred and stretched.

“The drawing, like the gesture I made, is an invention. A meaningless hodgepodge of symbols and Hebrew letters. I regret to say that my years of Hebrew school are far behind me, and my knowledge of the Cabala is even vaguer. The effect on Mr. Randolph was interesting, though, wasn’t it?”

Michael regarded him with no admiration whatever.

“Of the two of you, I almost think I prefer Randolph. The College, I suppose, is an equally imaginary group of-what? Adepts in magic, squatting on top of Mount Everest thinking about the universe? You deliberately let him think…”

“I let him think what he wanted to think. And I found out what I wanted to know.” He turned a contemplative stare on Linda, huddled on the hassock. “You were right. I felt sure that you were, but I had to check. And implant a certain useful suggestion.”

Michael picked up the chair Gordon had overturned in his flight, and sat down. Under its drawn pallor, his face held the first gleam of hope Linda had seen for hours.

“He thinks you’re a powerful warlock yourself. That isn’t all you learned, is it?”

“I wondered if you’d notice.”

“I was blind not to see it before.”

“When you described his reaction to the power failure in your apartment, I wondered. Knowing that his concern for Mrs. Randolph was only problematical, I suspected another, more immediate cause for his panic.”

“He’s afraid of the dark,” Michael said. Linda saw him shiver, and felt the same chill. She would never hear that word again without remembering.