ugh the gap with a feverish, horror-struck curiosity.
Franval was lying on his side in a profound sleep, with his back
turned toward the door. The agent softly placed the candle upon a small
reading-table between the door and the bedside, softly drew down the
bed-clothes a little away from the sleeper's back, then took a pair of
scissors from the toilet-table, and very gently and slowly began to cut
away, first the loose folds, then the intervening strips of linen, from
the part of Franval's night-gown that was over his shoulders. When the
upper part of his back had been bared in this way, the agent took the
candle and held it near the flesh. Miss Welwyn heard him ejaculate
some word under his breath, then saw him looking round to where she was
standing, and beckoning to her to come in.

Mechanically she obeyed; mechanically she looked down where his finger
was pointing. It was the convict Monbrun--there, just visible under the
bright light of the candle, were the fatal letters "T. F." branded on
the villain's shoulder!

Though she could neither move nor speak, the horror of this discovery
did not deprive her of her consciousness. She saw the agent softly
draw up the bed-clothes again into their proper position, replace
the scissors on the toilet-table, and take from it a bottle of
smelling-salts. She felt him removing her from the bedroom, and helping
her quickly downstairs, giving her the salts to smell to by the way.
When they were alone again, he said, with the first appearance of
agitation that he had yet exhibited, "Now, madam, for God's sake,
collect all your courage, and be guided by me. You and your sister
had better leave the house immediately. Have you any relatives in the
neighborhood with whom you could take refuge?" They had none. "What is
the name of the nearest town where you could get good accommodation for
the night?" Harleybrook (he wrote the name down on his tablets). "How
far off is it?" Twelve miles. "You had better have the carriage out at
once, to go there with as little delay as possible, leaving me to pass
the night here. I will communicate with you to-morrow at the principal
hotel. Can you compose yourself sufficiently to be able to tell the head
servant, if I ring for him, that he is to obey my orders till further
notice?" The servant was summoned, and received his instructions, the
agent going out with him to see that the carriage was got ready quietly
and quickly. Miss Welwyn went upstairs