Читать книгу Temporal Power: A Study in Supremacy - Marie Corelli - Страница 10

Both men started ever so slightly as the introduction was performed, and Thord looked at them with fresh touches of suspicion here and there lurking in his mind. But he was brave; and having once proceeded in a given direction was not in the habit of turning back. He therefore saluted both the new-comers with grave courtesy.

“I trust you!” he then said curtly to Leroy, “and I think you will not betray my trust. If you do, it will be the worse for you!”

His lips parted in a slight sinister smile, and the two who were respectively called Axel Regor and Max Graub, exchanged anxious glances. But Leroy showed no sign of hesitation or alarm.

“Your warning is quite unnecessary, Sergius Thord,” he said,—“I pledge you my word with my friendship—and my word is my bond! I will also hold myself responsible for my companions.”

Thord bent his head in silent recognition of this assurance.

“Then follow me, if such is your desire,” he said—“Remember, there is yet time to go in another direction, and to see me no more; but if you once do cast in your lot with mine the tie between us is indissoluble!”

He paused, as though expecting some recoil or hesitation on the part of those to whom he made this statement, but none came. He therefore strode on, and they followed, till arriving at the door of the tall, narrow house, where the light in the highest window gleamed like a signal, he opened it with a small key and entered, holding it back courteously for his three new companions to enter with him. They did so, and he closed the door. At the same moment the light was extinguished in the upper window, and the outside of the house became a mere wall of dense blackness in the driving rain.