As at a great distance she had heard the words of those who entered her chamber, and had understood their import.

More and more distinctly she heard their movements about the room as they burst open her caskets and appropriated her jewels, but it was not until silence was restored that the gathering powers of life asserted themselves; then with a sudden rush the blood seemed to course through her veins, her eyes opened, and her tongue was loosed, and with a scream she sprang up and stood by the side of her bed.
Sustained as by a supernatural power she hurried into the next room.

A pool of blood on the floor showed her that what she had heard had not been a dream or the fiction of a disordered brain.

Snatching up a cloak of her husband's which lay on a couch, she wrapped it round her, and with hurried steps made her way along the passages until she reached the apartment occupied by Ralph.

The latter sprang up in bed with a cry of astonishment.