The doorway was not visible from the ledge, and she passed a few horrible moments until a low hiss beneath caught her ear.

She could tell by the creak of the rope-ladder that he was ascending.

At last he reached her side, and she murmured, with a gasping sob-- "Don't go away again.

I cannot stand it." He thought it best to soothe her agitation by arousing interest.

Still hauling in the ladder with one hand, he held out the other, on which luminous wisps were writhing like glow-worms' ghosts.
"You are responsible," he said.