"Better, I hope!" replied the druggist, "but he has had a fearful night. He now sleeps, and I think it is a crisis. If he wake better, he will do well. If not, he dies."
"God forfend!" cried the man.
Ganay echoed loudly the wish, and retired once more to the sick man's chamber. Entering with stealthy steps, he approached the bed, and gazed upon him that it contained. A slight stream of dark fluid had flowed from his mouth, and stained his pillow; and Ganay, as he remarked this appearance, muttered, "The stomach has rejected it! He must take more. To leave it half done, were worse than all! Here, my lord!" he added, aloud, shaking him by the arm--"Here! take a little more of the same blessed elixir!"
But the old man made no answer, except by a long deep-drawn sigh; and Ganay, adding, "He has had enough," sat down, and turning his face from the lamp, continued gazing for some minutes upon the couch. From time to time, as he sat and looked, a few muttered words would escape his lips; and often he would turn and listen for the sounds in the street, as if impatient for the coming of some one from without.
"The Venice cabinet!" he muttered, "that stands in the small arras chamber by the saloon! Could one reach it, now, unperceived! But no. 'Tis better to wait till Du Bac arrives; some of the varlets might catch me, and all were ruined; better wait till he comes. He is very tedious, though--It works but slowly! He has had hardly enough--What can be done?--He cannot take any more!--That is a long-drawn sigh--it should be the last--A little help were not amiss, though!" and so saying, he pressed his hand heavily on the chest of the old Lord of Neufchatel.
It rose once slightly against the weight; but death and life were by this time so nearly balanced in his frame, that it rose but once, and then all was quiet. Still Ganay continued the pressure with his whole force, till suddenly the eyes opened, and the jaw dropped; and the murderer instinctively started back, fancying that his victim was awaking from his slumber. But he instantly perceived that what he saw was but the sign of a longer and more profound sleep having taken the old man to repose for ever; and, after one more glance to satisfy himself that no means of resuscitation could prove available, he loudly called upon the servants and attendants to give him help, for that their lord was dying. It was some time before he made them hear; for the illness of the old noble had been long and tedious, and kindness had been wearied, and attention worn out. When they did come, therefore, the druggist had some excuse to rate them severely for inattention and sloth. He affected to try many means of recalling the dead to life again, and proposed to send for skilful leeches, as soon as he heard the voice of Maillotin du Bac in the hall below.
That officer now came boldly in, and, stopping all other proceedings, demanded whether any relation of the dead lord were in the house. The answer, as he knew it must be, was in the negative; for--as the servants replied--all his connexions were in the far parts of Burgundy. "Well, then," cried the Prevot, "it becomes me, though not exactly the proper officer, to seal up all the doors and effects of the deceased, till such time as account can be taken. You, my men," he continued, to the archers of the band that followed him, "gather all these worthy servants and varlets together in the great hall, and see that no one stirs a step, till I have asked them a question or two. You, Master Ganay, being one of the magistrates of the town, had better come with me, to bear witness that I seal all things fairly. You, my good lieutenant, bring me some wax and a chafing dish, and then return to the hall, to guard these worthy fellows till I come."
The domestic attendants of the old lord, amongst whom were several of his ancient military retainers, grumbled not a little at this arrangement, and might have shown somewhat more stubborn resistance, had not the force brought by the Prevot overmatched them in numbers as well as in preparations. One of them, however, whispered to a boy who was amongst them, to slip out and warn the other retainers in the lodging over the way; the house, or rather houses, of the deceased noble, extending, as was not uncommon in those times, to both sides of the street. With this intimation to the boy, and one or two loud oaths, which the Prevot would not hear, the servants were removed, and the two accomplices stood together in the dead man's chamber alone. Such sights were too familiar to Maillotin du Bac, to cause even the slightest feeling of awe to cross his bosom, as he gazed on the face of the corpse; and after looking at it for a moment in silence, he turned to the druggist with a well-satisfied smile, but without farther comment.
"Let us make haste!" cried Ganay--"the papers are in the Venice cabinet, in the little arras chamber by the saloon."
"Wait for the wax! Wait for the wax, man!" replied the Prevot; "there is plenty of time. Let us do things orderly. You seek for the keys in the meantime. They are in that cupboard, probably. Where is its own key? But never mind; I will put back the lock with my dagger."