He occupied one seat in the hackney-coach, which was otherwise filled by
the officers of the law; but, when he rang a sonorous peal on the portal
bell of Bainrothe's residence, it was unanswered, and, though the house
had been watched since daylight by an armed police force, who had no
connection with McDermot, it was found, when an entrance had been
effected, that the only inhabitants of the mansion were a sick woman, an
old negress, and a child, apparently, from its puny size, about a
twelvemonth old. The woman could not be aroused from the coma in which
she seemed to have fallen, either as a crisis of her disease or a
precursor of death (medical opinion was divided), until suddenly, about
noon, she waked, perfectly clear in mind and comfortable in body, and
called loudly for nourishment!
I had slept profoundly until that hour, and my first thought in waking
was of Mrs. Clayton and her probable condition; then came the
concentrated effort necessary for her release; and she, too, awoke, as I
have shown, to consciousness and physical ease.
Her surprise, her indignation, at being thus deserted, surpassed even
her disappointment at my escape, and her involuntary somnolency was a
theme of self-reproach and marvel both. But all yielded in turn to
terror when she found herself under arrest in her own chamber, in
company with her fellow-conspirator Sabra.
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