Ha! ha! But 'tis done to good purpose, and not
idly.'
He locked the door of the closet with a skeleton key, and went his
way to fetch the Countess home.
That night she slept, but he kept awake. According to the tale, she
murmured soft words in her dream; and he knew that the tender
converse of her imaginings was held with one whom he had supplanted
but in name. At the end of her dream the Countess of Uplandtowers
awoke and arose, and then the enactment of former nights was
repeated. Her husband remained still and listened. Two strokes
sounded from the clock in the pediment without, when, leaving the
chamber-door ajar, she passed along the corridor to the other end,
where, as usual, she obtained a light. So deep was the silence that
he could even from his bed hear her softly blowing the tinder to a
glow after striking the steel. She moved on into the boudoir, and
he heard, or fancied he heard, the turning of the key in the closet-
door. The next moment there came from that direction a loud and
prolonged shriek, which resounded to the farthest corners of the
house. It was repeated, and there was the noise of a heavy fall.
Lord Uplandtowers sprang out of bed. He hastened along the dark
corridor to the door of the boudoir, which stood ajar, and, by the
light of the candle within, saw his poor young Countess lying in a
heap in her nightdress on the floor of the closet. When he reached
her side he found that she had fainted, much to the relief of his
fears that matters were worse.
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