It was some time before the thief could arouse the old woman to sensibility, and when she did so, he commanded her sternly to follow him.
‘Hey day!’ cried the hag, rubbing her eyes, and looking with stupified amazement at our heroine, who had sunk despairingly in a chair, and leaning her elbow upon the table, and her head upon her hand, was weeping bitterly; ‘what’s the matter now?’
‘What’s the matter!’ reiterated the man, ‘why, that through your infernal stupidity, the bird had nearly flown.’
‘Ah—what, do you mean to say that she had nearly escaped?’ croaked forth the old woman, and she looked more savage than ever at Inez.
‘Yes, I mean to say that she would have escaped,’ replied he, ‘and a pretty scrape we should then both have got into.’
‘Why, where was I at the time?’
‘Fast asleep, and a safe prisoner in this room, locked in.’
‘Locked in!’ ejaculated the beldame, ‘oh, I see it all now, that confounded gin got the better of me, and you too, I think, and, therefore, one is as much to blame as the other. We ought to thank our lucky stars that it has turned out as it has. But the artful jade, to lock me in, to—to—’
‘There, that’s enough,’ interrupted the fellow, ‘you would stand talking here all night. We will leave the lady to her own reflections, which, doubtless, will not be very pleasant. Blodget will be home shortly, I expect, and, should he find us together, he might suspect something wrong. Good night, my lady, and when you next try to escape, you had better use a little more expedition with your caution. Come, we must see and arrange this business somehow or another.’
The old woman fixed upon Inez one more malicious look, and appeared to exult in the agony she was undergoing at having been thwarted in her attempt, and then following the wretch, they both quitted the room, and secured the door after them.