He pulled himself up short with a word of derision at the length to which he had permitted his mind to run. "All this for the future. The immediate question is, Can she be freed from her bonds?"
He was deep in his book when Kate entered with excited greeting. "Morton, do you know that those women have been locked in their rooms all day for fear of Clarke and Pratt? Well, they were! Clarke has gone stark mad with jealousy, and even that besotted mother was afraid of him, and admits it. They would be there in that house prisoners this minute only for you."
"Don't lay your wreath on my head; keep it for Lambert. Really, Kate, he was magnificent. Little as he is, he towered. I had no doubt of his willingness and ability to kill either Pratt or Clarke; and I don't think they questioned the integrity of his promise."
Kate's mind took a new turn. "She's broken with Clarke, thank Heaven! But the mother clings to him in spite of all."
"I am about to suggest to Mrs. Lambert that she go West with her husband, leaving the girl in your care for a little while."
"I wish they would!"
"She must be freed from even her mother's presence for a while--that is, if they really want to have her cured of her trances."
"I see," said Kate, thoughtfully. "The mother is so closely associated with all that tapping."
"Precisely. I wish, when Mrs. Lambert is rested, you would ask her to let me see her here. I want to talk these matters over with her in private."
"They're both lying down, but I'll tell her when she rises. Don't do anything rash," she added, with a reaction towards caution which amused him.
"You may trust me."
She came back a few steps, and hesitatingly said. "For, after all, Morton, the girl is abnormal."
"So are we all--under abnormal conditions. I am going to see if I can't so change the current of her thought that she will forget her besetments--and you must help me."
"She's shockingly pretty and it will be very dangerous having her beneath your very roof." She gave a warning backward look. "How dare you permit it?"
"I am a very brave man," he replied, with a smile, and an inflection that puzzled her.