She closed the sitting-room door behind us. Followed by Mr. Bruff and

Betteredge, I went back to Mr. Blake's room.

We found him moving restlessly from side to side of the bed, and

wondering irritably whether he was to have the laudanum that night. In

the presence of the two witnesses, I gave him the dose, and shook up his

pillows, and told him to lie down again quietly and wait.

His bed, provided with light chintz curtains, was placed, with the head

against the wall of the room, so as to leave a good open space on either

side of it. On one side, I drew the curtains completely--and in the

part of the room thus screened from his view, I placed Mr. Bruff and

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Betteredge, to wait for the result. At the bottom of the bed I half drew

the curtains--and placed my own chair at a little distance, so that I

might let him see me or not see me, speak to me or not speak to me, just

as the circumstances might direct. Having already been informed that he

always slept with a light in the room, I placed one of the two lighted

candles on a little table at the head of the bed, where the glare of

the light would not strike on his eyes. The other candle I gave to Mr.

Bruff; the light, in this instance, being subdued by the screen of the

chintz curtains. The window was open at the top, so as to ventilate the

room. The rain fell softly, the house was quiet. It was twenty minutes

past eleven, by my watch, when the preparations were completed, and I

took my place on the chair set apart at the bottom of the bed.

Mr. Bruff resumed his papers, with every appearance of being as deeply

interested in them as ever. But looking towards him now, I saw certain

signs and tokens which told me that the Law was beginning to lose its

hold on him at last. The suspended interest of the situation in which

we were now placed was slowly asserting its influence even on HIS

unimaginative mind. As for Betteredge, consistency of principle and

dignity of conduct had become, in his case, mere empty words. He forgot

that I was performing a conjuring trick on Mr. Franklin Blake; he forgot

that I had upset the house from top to bottom; he forgot that I had not

read ROBINSON CRUSOE since I was a child. "For the Lord's sake, sir," he

whispered to me, "tell us when it will begin to work."

"Not before midnight," I whispered back. "Say nothing, and sit still."




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