rard was for bolting the door; but Denys with a sign showed him that
half the door-post turned outward on a hinge, and the great bolt was
little more than a blind. "I have forborne to bolt it," said he, "that
they may think us the less suspicious."

Near an hour rolled away thus. It seemed an age. Yet it was but a little
hour, and the town was a league distant. And some of the voices in the
kitchen became angry and impatient.

"They will not wait much longer," said Denys, "and we have no chance at
all unless we surprise them."

"I will do whate'er you bid," said Gerard meekly.

There was a cupboard on the same side as the door; but between it and
the window. It reached nearly to the ground, but not quite. Denys opened
the cupboard door and placed Gerard on a chair behind it. "If they
run for the bed, strike at the napes of their necks! a sword cut there
always kills or disables." He then arranged the bolsters and their shoes
in the bed so as to deceive a person peeping from a distance, and drew
the short curtains at the head.

Meantime Gerard was on his knees. Denys looked round and saw him.

"Ah!" said Denys, "above all, pray them to forgive me for bringing you
into this guet-apens!"

And now they grasped hands and looked in one another's eyes oh, such a
look! Denys's hand was cold, and Gerard's warm.

They took their posts.

Denys blew out the candle.

"We must keep silence now."

But in the terrible tension of their nerves and very souls they found
they could hear a whisper fainter than any man could catch at all
outside that door. They could hear each other's hearts thump at times.

"Good news!" breathed Denys, listening at the door. "They are casting
lots."

"Pray that it may be the Abbot."

"Yes. Why?

"If he comes alone I can make sure of him."

"Denys!"

"Ay!"

"I fear I shall go mad, if they do not come soon."

"Shall I feign sleep? Shall I snore?"

"Will that-------?

"Perhaps"

"Do then and God have mercy on us!"

Denys snored at intervals.

There was a scuffling of feet heard in the kitchen, and then all was
still.

Denys snored again. Then took up his position behind the door.

But he, or they, who had drawn the lot, seemed determined to run no
foolish risks. Nothing was attempted in a hurry.

When they were almost starved with cold, and waiting for the attack, the
door on the stairs opened softly and closed again. Nothing more.

There was another harrowing silence.