When it was finished and after another term of listening, he took a cloak and muffled himself up.
It was an old-fashioned riding-cloak, and he could pull it over his head and face and still leave a greater part of his legs covered.
In the pocket he slipped the dark lantern.
Then from his bureau he took his revolver and a short, deadly life-preserver, the thong of which he tied round his wrist.
Thus armed, he smiled with a serene feeling of security, and, as an additional fillip to his courage, he tossed off a glass of brandy.
It was his intention to leave the house, and here a question arose for him which was the better means of egress.
He decided upon that which he had used formerly, and with practiced dexterity he fastened his rope, leaped on the sill and rapidly descended.
Cautiously, and looking round him with vigilant eyes, he entered the dark cloisters; and, feeling his way, crept on tiptoe to the trunk on which Leicester had surprised him three mornings since.
In a few moments he was groping on again, and at last reached what seemed to be his destination, a doorway protected from observation by a pillar, up which had grown a thick mass of ivy.
From that point he commanded a view of the whole of the chapel and of the window of the deserted room.