He was striving to shake off the feeling, when his attention was attracted to stealthy footsteps in the passage.

Could it be Maruja?
He rose to his feet, with his eye upon the door.

The footsteps ceased--it remained closed.

But another door, which had escaped his attention in the darkened corner, slowly swung on its hinges, and, with a stealthy step, Pereo, the mayordomo, entered the room.
Courageous and self-possessed as Captain Carroll was by nature and education, this malevolent vision, and incarnation of the thought uppermost in his mind, turned him cold.

He had half drawn a derringer from his breast, when his eye fell on the grizzled locks and wrinkled face of the old man, and his hand dropped to his side.