But Mr Frampton was a brave man; and that night he spent in arming himself for the task that lay before him.

Yet how he dreaded that scene to-morrow! How he wished that this hideous nightmare were after all a dream, and that he could awake and find Bolsover where it was even yesterday morning! The other watcher was Jeffreys.

He had slept not a wink the night before, and to-night sleep seemed still more impossible.

Had you seen him as he sat there listlessly in his chair, with his gaunt, ugly face and restless lips, you would have been inclined, I hope, to pity him, cad as he was.

Hour after hour he sat there without changing his posture, cloud after cloud chasing one another across his brow, as they chased one another across the pale face of the moon outside.
At length, as it seemed, with an effort he rose to his feet and slipped off his boots.