Heyton, with an unpleasant laugh.
"Horses cost money."

"You shall have some hunters," said the Marquess, with a contraction of
his brow. "I had thought of speaking to you about it. We will discuss it
later on."

"All right," said Heyton, ungraciously. "Well, I'm off."

He went upstairs, and Miriam and the Marquess followed him soon after.
Just as she was ready for bed, Heyton opened his dressing-room door and,
looking in, said:

"I'm going to sleep in here to-night, Miriam."

He had often occupied the bed in his dressing-room; generally on nights
when, if the truth must be told, he had drunk too much and was ashamed
that Miriam should see him.

"Very well," she said, indifferently.

He closed the door and turned the key softly, took off his things and
put on a thick dressing-gown over his pyjamas; then he sat down in a
chair, with his hands thrust in the dressing-gown pockets, his head sunk
on his breast, his teeth gnawing his lip. He was listening intently.
Presently he got up, went to the bed and disarranged the clothes, giving
them the appearance of having been slept in; then he went back to his
chair and sat and listened again.

The faint noises of a big household retiring to rest grew less by
degrees and then ceased; and presently all was perfectly still. He sat
motionless, still listening, for another hour, two; then he rose and,
opening the outer door stealthily, stopped, with craned head, still
listening. The silence was unbroken, and with noiseless tread, he passed
along the corridor to his father's door and, with his ear to the
keyhole, listened again. He could hear his father's steady, long-drawn
breathing, the breathing of a man in a deep sleep.

With a gesture, as if he were controlling his nervousness, Heyton tried
the handle of the door; the door was not locked and he opened it and
went in. The house was lit by electricity, and a small lamp was burning
beside the Marquess's bed. Heyton stole across the room, in his felt
slippers, and looked down at the sleeping man for a moment; then his
furtive, bloodshot eyes went towards the small table beside the bed.
There was a carafe of water and a glass, the Marquess's ring and his
watch and chain on the table. The chain was an old-fashioned affair,
with an extra ring, and on this ring were two keys, the key of the safe
and a smaller one. Heyton knew that it was the key to the jewel-case.

His hand shook so much that, for a moment or two, he was afrai