Milady smiled with joy. She was free now to give way to her transports
without being observed. She traversed her chamber with the excitement of
a furious maniac or of a tigress shut up in an iron cage. CERTES, if
the knife had been left in her power, she would now have thought, not of
killing herself, but of killing the baron.

At six o'clock Lord de Winter came in. He was armed at all points.
This man, in whom Milady till that time had only seen a very simple
gentleman, had become an admirable jailer. He appeared to foresee all,
to divine all, to anticipate all.

A single look at Milady apprised him of all that was passing in her
mind.

"Ay!" said he, "I see; but you shall not kill me today. You have no
longer a weapon; and besides, I am on my guard. You had begun to pervert
my poor Felton. He was yielding to your infernal influence; but I will
save him. He will never see you again; all is over. Get your clothes
together. Tomorrow you will go. I had fixed the embarkation for the
twenty-fourth; but I have reflected that the more promptly the affair
takes place the more sure it will be. Tomorrow, by twelve o'clock, I
shall have the order for your exile, signed, BUCKINGHAM. If you speak
a single word to anyone before going aboard ship, my sergeant will blow
your brains out. He has orders to do so. If when on the ship you speak
a single word to anyone before the captain permits you, the captain will
have you thrown into the sea. That is agreed upon.

"AU REVOIR; then; that is all I have to say today. Tomorrow I will
see you again, to take my leave." With these words the baron went out.
Milady had listened to all this menacing tirade with a smile of disdain
on her lips, but rage in her heart.

Supper was served. Milady felt that she stood in need of all her
strength. She did not know what might take place during this night which
approached so menacingly--for large masses of cloud rolled over the face
of the sky, and distant lightning announced a storm.

The storm broke about ten o'clock. Milady felt a consolation in seeing
nature partake of the disorder of her heart. The thunder growled in the
air like the passion and anger in her thoughts. It appeared to her
that the blast as it swept along disheveled her brow, as it bowed the
branches of the trees and bore away their leaves. She howled as the
hurricane howled; and her voice was lost in the great voice of nature,
which also seemed to groan with despair.

All at onc