"Don’t say I didn’t make haste," he said, pantingly, as he poured some water from the glass jug he was carrying into his own tumbler, which was empty. "You won’t mind your husband’s glass, of course." He handed it to her. "No," said Joan, who felt sternly apathetic--with but one dominant feeling--to circumvent this fiendish being, and possess the letters and certificate with which he threatened her. And she drank the water off at a draught, even as he had drunk the brandy. The glass must be empty to hold the drugged spirit. "Great Scott!" he laughed, contemptuously, as he took the empty tumbler and looked curiously at it. "To see any one gulp down water like that gives me the shivers! Pah, I must positively warm my nerves after seeing you do it!" She watched him, fascinated, as he poured out another half-tumbler of the now drugged brandy, and dashed a few teaspoonfuls of water into it. "That is how I take my liquor--like a man!" he said, after a long drink, setting the nearly emptied glass down on the table. "Ah! I feel better of my temper already. You must not pay attention to what I said just now, old girl! I didn’t mean it, really I didn’t! Some one said something to me about a Lord Vansittart or somebody having boasted he would have you, or die. You doubtless know of the fellow! But you must be accustomed to that sort of thing by this time, eh? Your uncle has a big fortune to leave." He smiled sardonically. She thrilled--a curious, cold thrill, at the insult. But she controlled herself. "Victor--I have always remembered that I was your wife," she solemnly said. "My uncle has teased me to marry. I have never--encouraged--any one." "Then you have a sneaking liking for your ’darling,’ as you used to call me, eh!" he said, a little thickly. The brandy was already making him feel less critical and sceptical in his mental attitude towards Joan and mankind in general. "Come and sit on the sofa under the window. There is hardly a breath of air in this blessed little room. How I hate tiny rooms! I hope this is the last I shall ever be in!" He held out his hand. What was she to do? After a swift query to herself, she determined to dare all--to woo him to that drugged sleep during which she would abstract his keys, open that desk, and steal those incriminating documents. She allowed him to lead her to the sofa and, seating himself in the corner, encircle her with his arm. The evening air came in through the window which opened upon the little balcony where, coming along the street, she had seen him, a dark figure in the twilight, awaiting her.