She held up one shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her.
"'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to speak calmly; 'I would go.

I should not stay here.

There is no good for you to do.' "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for.

I cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on.

'You can pass through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and made a step forward, with her hands wrung together.