he truckle-bed was empty.

The discovery startled her for the moment, and for the moment only.
Plain as the inferences were to be drawn from it, she never drew them.
Her mind, slowly recovering the exercise of its faculties, was still
under the influence of the earlier and the deeper impressions produced
on it. Her mind followed the admiral into his room, as her body had
followed him across the Banqueting-Hall.

Had he lain down again in his bed? Was he still asleep? She listened at
the door. Not a sound was audible in the room. She tried the door, and,
finding it not locked, softly opened it a few inches and listened again.
The rise and fall of his low, regular breathing instantly caught her
ear. He was still asleep.

She went into the room, and, shading th e candle-light with her hand,
approached the bedside to look at him. The dream was past; the old man's
sleep was deep and peaceful; his lips were still; his quiet hand was
laid over the coverlet in motionless repose. He lay with his face turned
toward the right-hand side of the bed. A little table stood there within
reach of his hand. Four objects were placed on it; his candle, his
matches, his customary night drink of lemonade, and his basket of keys.

The idea of possessing herself of his keys that night (if an opportunity
offered when the basket was not in his hand) had first crossed her mind
when she saw him go into his room. She had lost it again for the moment,
in the surprise of discovering the empty truckle-bed. She now recovered
it the instant the table attracted her attention. It was useless to
waste time in trying to choose the one key wanted from the rest--the one
key was not well enough known to her to be readily identified. She took
all the keys from the table, in the basket as they lay, and noiselessly
closed the door behind her on leaving the room.

The truckle-bed, as she passed it, obtruded itself again on
her attention, and forced her to think of it. After a moment's
consideration, she moved the foot of the bed back to its customary
position across the door. Whether he was in the house or out of it, the
veteran might return to his deserted post at any moment. If he saw the
bed moved from its usual place, he might suspect something wrong, he
might rouse his master, and the loss of the keys might be discovered.

Nothing happened as she descended the stairs, nothing happened as she
passed along the corridor; the house was as silent and as solita