But, then, upon the first impulse of finding some one in the room, he considered that she might utter some cry that to him, would be full of danger; and to guard against that was the first step he took. There came through the window of the sleeping chamber a faint light, which just enabled him, after a few minutes, when his eyes had got accustomed to it, to look about him, and see the outlines of one object from another. To be sure, these outlines were but dim ones, but still they served to enable him to avoid encountering any piece of furniture, and so making noise enough to awaken his victim from the sound sleep she was in. To tie a silk handkerchief in such a manner around her mouth, and then another over her head, so that the possibility of uttering anything but a faint sound would be out of the question, was Blodget’s idea. Indeed, he had prepared himself with the means, as will be recollected, of completely enveloping the head of his prisoner, so that if any attempted alarm was tried, the sound of it would not penetrate far enough to be successful in reaching the inmates of the house. It was a very delicate and ticklish job, though, so suddenly to envelope the head and face of a sleeping person in a silken bandage as to prevent them from uttering a single cry until the operation was complete. But that was just what had to be done, and so he did not shrink from it. He only waited a few moments longer, in order that his eyes might be accustomed to the very dim light that found its way into the chamber. During those few moments, too, he turned his head aside to listen if the whole attention of his faculty of hearing could detect the sound of any one stirring in the mansion; but all was as still and silent as the tomb. ‘Now for it,’ said he to himself. In a half-crouching posture he approached the bed. If what he was about to do was to be done at all, it was only by the very excess of boldness in the attempt to do it. When he reached the side of the bed, he rose to his full height, and slipping adroitly his left arm right under the head of the sleeper, he in one moment lifted it from the pillow, and with his right hand he placed the silken envelope over the head and face, and drew it close round the neck. ‘Utter one sound of alarm,’ he said in a low, clear voice close to the ear of the bewildered occupant of the bed, ‘and it is your last upon earth. Be quiet and submissive, and no sort of harm is intended you. On the contrary, everything possible will be done to render your situation as agreeable as possible, and you’ll be treated with delicacy and with every consideration.’ A gasping sort of a sob was the only reply. ‘Hush!’ said Blodget. ‘Your fate is in your own hands. I am compelled for my own sake to remove you from the mansion; but you will be treated with all the respect and all the consideration becoming your sex and rank, unless you by your own conduct, force an opposite condition of things.’