I remember how, when, after we had got, late at night, into bed, I sat up,
shivering with horror, in mine, while honest Mary's tranquil breathing told
how soundly she slept. I got up, and looked from the window, expecting to
see some of those wolfish dogs which they had brought to the place prowling
about the court-yard. Sometimes I prayed, and felt tranquillised, and
fancied that I was perhaps to have a short interval of sleep. But the
serenity was delusive, and all the time my nerves were strung hysterically.
Sometimes I felt quite wild, and on the point of screaming. At length that
dreadful night passed away. Morning came, and a less morbid, though hardly
a less terrible state of mind. Madame paid me an early visit. A thought
struck me. I knew that she loved shopping, and I said, quite carelessly--
'Your yesterday's shopping tempts me, Madame, and I must get a few things
before we leave for France. Suppose we go into Feltram to-day, and make my
purchases, you and I?'
She looked from the corner of her cunning eye in my face without answering.
I did not blench, and she said--
'Vary good.
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