CHAPTER X.
DE AKTHENAY'S VIGIL.
Was it a _loup-garou_ in the attic?
was it a _loup-garou_ that drew that long, sighing breath, as of a soul in pain; was it a _loup-garou_ that now groped its way to the other staircase, that which led up from the woodshed, pausing now and then, and going blindly, and breathing still heavily and slow?
De Arthenay had come up to the attic in search of something, tools, maybe, or seeds, or the like, for many odd things were stowed away under the over-hanging rafters.

He heard steps, and stood still, knowing that it must be his wife who was coming up, and thinking to have pleasure just by watching her as she went on some little household errand, such as brought himself.

She would know nothing of his presence, and so she would be free, unrestrained by any shyness or--or fear; if it was fear.

So he had stood in his dark corner, and had seen little, indeed, but heard all; and it was a wild and a miserable man that crept down the narrow stairway and out into the fresh air.
He did not know where he was going.

He wandered on and on, hearing always that sound in his ears, the soft, sweet tones of the accursed instrument that was wiling his wife, his own, his beloved, to her destruction.