t the fire. She instantly seized
the glass, and poured its contents down her bosom. When he faced round
again she was holding the glass to her lips, empty.

In due course he locked the doors and saw that the shutters were
fastened. She attended to a few closing details of housewifery, and a
few minutes later they retired for the night.

5. FROM ELEVEN O'CLOCK TO MIDNIGHT

When Manston was persuaded, by the feigned heaviness of her breathing,
that Anne Seaway was asleep, he softly arose, and dressed himself in the
gloom. With ears strained to their utmost she heard him complete this
operation; then he took something from his pocket, put it in the drawer
of the dressing-table, went to the door, and down the stairs. She glided
out of bed and looked in the drawer. He had only restored to its place
a small phial she had seen there before. It was labelled 'Battley's
Solution of Opium.' She felt relieved that her life had not been
attempted. That was to have been her sleeping-draught. No time was to
be lost if she meant to be a match for him. She followed him in her
nightdress. When she reached the foot of the staircase he was in the
office and had closed the door, under which a faint gleam showed that
he had obtained a light. She crept to the door, but could not venture to
open it, however slightly. Placing her ear to the panel, she could hear
him tearing up papers of some sort, and a brighter and quivering ray of
light coming from the threshold an instant later, implied that he was
burning them. By the slight noise of his footsteps on the uncarpeted
floor, she at length imagined that he was approaching the door. She
flitted upstairs again and crept into bed.

Manston returned to the bedroom close upon her heels, and entered
it--again without a light. Standing motionless for an instant to assure
himself that she still slept, he went to the drawer in which their
ready-money was kept, and removed the casket that contained it. Anne's
ear distinctly caught the rustle of notes, and the chink of the gold
as he handled it. Some he placed in his pocket, some he returned to
its place. He stood thinking, as it were weighing a possibility. While
lingering thus, he noticed the reflected image of his own face in the
glass--pale and spectre-like in its indistinctness. The sight seemed to
be the feather which turned the balance of indecision: he drew a heavy
breath, retired from the room, and passed downstairs. She heard him
unbar the b