window was.

Nick's hand closed upon her elbow, and she breathed again. "Shall we go
and investigate upstairs?" he said.

Mutely she yielded to the suggestion. They went down the long vault-like
hall, and turned through the archway in the south wall close to the
window. As they did so, a sudden sound rent the ghostly stillness, a
sound that echoed and echoed from wall to wall, dying at last into a
shrill thread of sound that seemed to merge into the cry of a sea-gull
over the leaden waters. As it died, there came a noise of running feet
in the corridor above, and a white-faced maid-servant rushed gasping
down the wide oak stairs.

Olga sprang to intercept her. "Jane, what is the matter? Where is Miss
Violet? Have you seen her?"

She caught the terrified girl by the shoulders, holding her fast while
she questioned her.

Jane stopped perforce in her headlong flight. "Oh, lor, Miss Olga, do
let me go! Miss Violet's upstairs--with Mrs. Briggs. She's in a dreadful
taking, and don't seem to know what she's doing. Did you hear her
scream? Mrs. Briggs says it's hysterics, but it don't sound like that
to me. It's made my blood run cold."

Olga released as swiftly as she had captured her, and started for the
stairs. Nick was close behind her. They ascended almost together, past
the great window that looked upon the sea, and so on to the oak-panelled
corridor that led to Violet's room.