"Far better," Ralph muttered. "It would have been no crime to shoot her like a dog. Yet fancy hanging for such a creature as that!"
The grim humor of the suggestion restored Ralph to himself. His relaxed fingers just touched the cold throat and face. He could hear the sound of regular breathing. From a tiny phial he took two or three drops of some dark cordial and brushed them over the woman's rigid lips. She stirred faintly.
"Just as well to hasten events," he muttered. "One cannot afford to play with 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 hear footsteps. But how near they were he could not tell. His brows contracted with annoyance.
"So soon," he muttered. "I did not expect this."
He dropped down between the bed and the wall. Then he crawled under the deep 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. And this 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-enemy stirring uneasily. She muttered something and once more was passionately shaken.
"What is the matter?" she muttered. "Where am I?"
"Here, in the castle. Don't you remember?"