The troubled house had fallen asleep at last. They were all used to theswooping horrors; they could recall the black times spread out over theweary years; they could vividly recollect how one trouble after anotherhad happened.
And it had been an eventful day. For the last few hours they had lived afresh tragedy. True, the tragedy itself had been averted, but for sometime there had been the agony of the real thing. The Ravenspurs,exhausted by the flood of emotion, had been glad of rest.
They were presumably asleep now, all but Ralph. Long after deep silencehad fallen on the house he sat alone in the darkness. The glow of hispipe just touched his inscrutable features and a faint halo of lightplayed about his grizzled head. A mouse nibbling behind the panelssounded clear as the crack of a pistol shot. The big stable clock boomedtwo.
Ralph laid aside his pipe and crept to the door. He opened it silentlyand passed out into the corridor. A cat would not have made less noise.Yet he moved swiftly and confidently, as one who has eyes to seefamiliar ground. He came at length to the room where Mrs. May was lying.
She had been made fairly comfortable. Her dress had been loosened at thethroat, but she still wore the clothes in which she had been dressed atthe time of her accident.
Later she would perhaps find it difficult to account for masquerading inthe castle in that strange guise. That she would have some ingeniousplea to put forward Ralph felt certain. But the dress was anothermatter. Ralph grinned to himself as he thought of it.
There was a light in the room. He could tell that by the saffron glowthat touched lightly on his sightless eyeballs. He knew the dispositionof the room as well as if he could see it. He felt his way across untilhe came to the bed on which the woman lay.
His hand touched her throat--a gentle touch--yet his fingers crooked anda murderous desire blossomed like a rose in his heart. Nobody was aboutand nobody would know. Who could connect the poor blind man with thedeed? Why not end her life now?
"Far better," Ralph muttered. "It would have been no crime to shoot herlike a dog. Yet fancy hanging for such a creature as that!"
The grim humor of the suggestion restored Ralph to himself. His relaxedfingers just touched the cold throat and face. He could hear the soundof regular breathing. From a tiny phial he took two or three drops ofsome dark cordial and brushed them over the woman's rigid lips. Shestirred faintly.
"Just as well to hasten events," he muttered. "One cannot afford to playwith the thing."
He replaced the bottle in his pocket. He drew himself up listening.Other ears could not have heard a sound. Ralph could plainly hearfootsteps. But how near they were he could not tell. His browscontracted with annoyance.
"So soon," he muttered. "I did not expect this."
He dropped down between the bed and the wall. Then he crawled under thedeep valance. He had not long to wait. Somebody had crept into the room,somebody light of foot and light of body who crossed to the bed. Andthis somebody shook the sleeping figure with passionate force.
"Wake up!" a voice said. "Oh, will you never wake up?"
The listener smiled. He could hear the figure of his arch-enemystirring uneasily. She muttered something and once more was passionatelyshaken.
"What is the matter?" she muttered. "Where am I?"
"Here, in the castle. Don't you remember?"
Pause for a moment. Ralph was listening intently.
"I begin to recollect. There was an accident; the door refused to open;I fought for my life as long as I could before the fumes overcame me,and I gave myself up for lost. Oh, it was something to remember,Marion," muttered Mrs. May.
Marion, for it was she, made no reply. She was crying quietly.
"What is the matter with the girl?" the woman asked irritably.
"Oh, it is good for you to ask me that question," said Marion, "afterall the bitter trouble and humiliation you have put upon me. Get up andfollow me."
"I cannot. The thing is impossible. You forget that I have been almostdead. My limbs are paralyzed. I shall not be able to walk for at leasttwo days. I must remain like a dog here. But there is no hurry. Whathappened?"
"I can't tell; I don't know. You were found in the corridor, I am told,insensible. When they came back to the castle they found you lying here.They had all been down on the beach searching for Geoffrey."
The woman laughed. It was a laugh to chill the blood.
"I hope they found him," she said.
"Oh, yes, they found him," Marion said quietly.
"Drowned, with a placid smile on his face, after the fashion of thenovel?"
"No, very much alive. You failed. Geoffrey Ravenspur is here safe andsound. On my knees I have thanked God for it."
The woman muttered something that the listener failed to catch. Sheseemed to be suppressing a tendency to a violent outburst.
"I will not fail next time," she said. "And you are a love-sick,soft-hearted, sentimental fool. All this time I have to remain here.But, at any rate, I have you to do my bidding. Put your hand in mybreast pocket and you will find a key."
"Well, what am I to do with it?"
"You are to go to my rooms at Jessop's farm at once. They will be fastasleep, so that you need not be afraid. Jessop's people have the slumberthat comes of a tired body and an easy conscience. But there are foesabout and it is not well to trust to anybody.
"If I am to remain here for a day or two I must have certain things. Inmy sitting room, by the side of the fireplace, is a black iron box. Openit with the key I have given you and bring the casket to me. You can getinto my sitting room by gently raising the window, which is notfastened. They are so honest in these parts that people don't fastentheir windows. Now go."
"You are sure you cannot get up?"
"Certain. I have been drugged and it will be some time before I am ableto get about. That is why I am anxious to have the box. Young Ravenspurwould never have got away had he had no friends to assist him or asimple fool to give him warning."
"The fool you speak of does not regret it."
"Perhaps not. How did he escape?"
"In the simplest possible way. He was picked up by a passing yacht."
"Well, accidents will happen," the woman muttered. "Now do my bidding.The heavy drugged sleep is coming upon me again, and I shall not be ableto keep my eyes open much longer. Go at once."
As Marion crept away Ralph could catch her heavy indrawn breath and thesobs that seemed to burst from her overcharged heart. Then he knew thatthe woman was asleep again.
A minute or two later and he was standing in the hall. He waited inshadow, silent and patient. The stairs creaked slightly and a stealthyfootstep came creeping down.