He could not help starting at it, for it was the face of a woman with two glittering basilisk eyes.
Belle Demona did not see it, for she was looking at the new guard.
As for Merle, who had withdrawn to another room, he stood at a little table with the recently-arrived letter in his hand.
"It's from Danny. I know his writing," he said. "I wonder what the old man has to say?"
In another second he had torn open the letter, and one glance sufficed.
In that glance he had read these terrible lines:
"Be on your guard! I have just looked into the pit and it is empty. The man who fell into it the other night is not there, and I have thrown a light to the bottom of it. So look for him near you by this time, if he is a Scotland Yarder.
"Old Danny."
Out of the pit?
No wonder all semblance of color left Merle's face.
No wonder he looked up with white lips that quivered like the leaves of the aspen.