His life lay there, in that room, in that house, and he could not come at it! He could not come at it! But he would! He would! It issued in that always; in some plan or scheme for gaining possession of the philtre.

Some of the plans that occurred to him were wild and desperate; dangerous and hopeless on the face of them.

Others were merely violent; others again, of which craft was the mainspring, held out a prospect of success.

For a whole day the notion of arresting Basterga on a charge of treason, and seizing the steel casket together with his papers, was uppermost.

It seemed feasible, and was feasible; nay, it was more than feasible, it was easy; for already there were rumours of the man abroad, and his name had been mentioned at the council table.