the bowl and rag, and invited me to sit down.

I was loth to let him touch me; but he continued to stand over
me, pointing and grinning with dark persistence, and rather than
stand on a trifle I sat down at last and gave him his way. He
bathed my head carefully enough, and I daresay did it good; but
I understood. I knew that his only desire was to learn whether
the cut was real or a pretence, and I began to fear him more and
more; until he was gone from the room, I dared scarcely lift my
face lest he should read too much in it.

Alone, even, I felt uncomfortable, this seemed so sinister a
business, and so ill begun. I was in the house. But Madame's
frank voice haunted me, and the dumb man's eyes, full of
suspicion and menace. When I presently got up and tried my door,
I found it locked. The room smelt dank and close--like a vault.
I could not see through the barred window, but I could hear the
boughs sweep it in ghostly fashion; and I guessed that it looked
out where the wood grew close to the walls of the house, and that
even in the day the sun never peeped through it.

Nevertheless, tired and worn out, I slept at last. When I awoke
the room was full of grey light, the door stood open, and Louis,
looking ashamed of himself, waited by my pallet with a cup of
wine in his hand, and some bread and fruit on a platter.

'Will Monsieur be good enough to rise?' he said. 'It is eight
o'clock.'

'Willingly,' I answered tartly. 'Now that the door is unlocked.'