But Peter had not been held unworthy.

Might it not be so with him?
He rose to his feet, a new light in his eyes.

He would return! He would return, and at all costs, even at the cost of surrendering himself, he would obtain access to the letters.

And then--not the fear of Count Hannibal, not the fear of instant death, should turn him from his duty.
He had cast himself down in a woodland glade which lay near the path along which he had ridden that morning.

But the mental conflict from which he rose had shaken him so violently that he could not recall the side on which he had entered the clearing, and he turned himself about, endeavouring to remember.