CURWEN, struggling: "Let me speak to my wife! Will you prevent a
husband from speaking to his own wife?"

MRS. MILLER, in blind admiration of his frenzy: "Yes, that's just
what I said. If some one had beaten the door in at once" -

MRS. ROBERTS: "Oh, Edward, dear, let him speak to his wife."
Tearfully: "Think if _I_ were there!"

ROBERTS, releasing him: "He may speak to his wife all night. But he
mustn't knock the house down."

CURWEN, rushing at the grating: "Caroline! Can you hear me? Are
you safe?"

MRS. CURWEN: "Perfectly. I had a little faint when we first stuck"
-

CURWEN: "Faint? Oh!"

MRS. CURWEN: "But I am all right now."

CURWEN: "Well, that's right. Don't be frightened! There's no
occasion for excitement. Keep perfectly calm and collected. It's
the only way--What's that ringing?" The sound of an electric bell is
heard within the elevator. It increases in fury.

MRS. ROBERTS and MRS. MILLER: "Oh, isn't it dreadful?"

THE ELEVATOR BOY: "It's somebody on the ground-floor callin' the