upon my salvation," replied Aunt Dorothy.

That evening of course we did not see the ladies at supper. Sir George and
I ate in silence until my cousin became talkative from drink. Then he
spoke bitterly of Dorothy's conduct, and bore with emphasis upon the fact
that the lover to whom Dorothy had stooped was a low-born serving man.

"But Dorothy declares he is noble," I responded.

"She has lied to me so often that I do not believe a word she says,"
returned Sir George.

He swore oath upon oath that the wretch should hang in the morning, and
for the purpose of carrying into effect his intention he called in Joe the
butcher and told him to make all things ready for the execution.

I did not attempt to thwart his purpose by word or gesture, knowing it
would be useless, but hoped that John would be out of his reach long ere
the cock would crow his first greeting to the morrow's sun.

After Sir George had drunk far into the night the servants helped him to
bed, and he carried with him the key to the dungeon together with the keys
to all the outer doors and gates of Haddon Hall, as was his custom. The
keys were in a bunch, held together by an iron ring, and Sir George always
kept them under his pillow at night.

I sought my bed in Eagle Tower and lay down in my clothes to rest and
wait. The window of my room was open.

Within an hour after midnight I heard the hooting of an owl. The doleful
sound came up to me from the direction of the stone footbridge at the
southwest corner of the Hall below the chapel. I went to my window and
looked out over the courts and terrace. Haddon Hall and all things in and
about it were wrapped in slumbrous silence. I waited, and again I heard
the hooting of the owl. Noiselessly leaving my room I descended the stone
steps to an unused apartment in the tower from which a window opened upon
the roof of the north wing of the Hall. Along that roof I crept with bared
feet, till I reached another roof, the battlements of which at the lowest
point were not more than twenty feet from the ground. Thence I clambered
down to a window cornice five or six feet lower, and jumped, at the risk
of my limbs, the remaining distance of fifteen or sixteen feet to the soft
sod beneath. I ran with all haste, took my stand under Aunt Dorothy's
window, and whistled softly. The window casing opened and I heard the
great bunch of keys jingling and clinking against the stone wall as Aunt
Dorothy paid them out to me by