He dashed the liquor from his eyes (it had been half full of the raw spirit) and sprang to his feet with a furious oath.
But he had reckoned without his cost. Even as he snatched his blade from the table where he had laid it the fumes of the brandy that he had been drinking heavily mounted to his brain. He staggered forward, his knees gave way under him, and he fell to the floor, where he lay, unable to rise.
I sheathed my sword, and turning on my heel, left the room. In the passage I encountered the landlord returning, a tray of glasses in his hand. He readily agreed to my request to be shown some chamber where I could sleep, and lighting a candle, he led me up a narrow flight of stairs and stopped before a door upon the landing.
“It is small,” he said doubtfully, entering the room, “and there is but room for one.”
“So much the better,” I answered, for I wished to be alone with my thoughts. I took the candle from his hand, therefore, and with a few directions as to the disposal of M. de Launay and upon other matters, I bade him “good-night.”
I stood for a moment at the open door. From the troopers below came a confused babel of oaths and laughter, mingled with the clatter of cups. Then, closing the door and shooting the bolt behind me, I pulled off my coat and heavy riding boots and threw myself, dressed as I was, upon the couch. And there for hours I lay, planning my great revenge, whilst ever before my eyes was my lady’s proud face as I had last seen it, alight with scorn. It was far into the night and the noises from the rooms below had long since died away when I finally dropped into the sleep of utter exhaustion.
CHAPTER IV
OF MY LADY’S MISSION TO EXETER
The first streaks of dawn were lightening the chamber when I awoke to a consciousness of my surroundings. I sprang from my couch with faculties alert, for I am, as a rule, but a light sleeper. It is a legacy that, with others, has been bequeathed to me by many a campaign in foreign lands, when often a man’s life might hang upon the sharpness of his wits and his power of decision at a moment’s notice under any circumstances.
I crossed the room to the window and looked out through its tiny latticed panes.
Mist, mist everywhere, and so thick that I could barely distinguish the courtyard of the inn below.