There were many other circumstances which rendered it desirable to be quick about the affair. In the first place the collision with the watch had no doubt been, by that time, communicated, and no doubt the police were active. Then again, as the man in the house over the way had after all only been stunned, there was no saying when he might sufficiently recover to give an alarm. From all these reasons Blodget felt the necessity of bringing the job to a speedy end, and with such a determination he then crept very quietly into the lady’s bed-room. In the dim light of the bedchamber, he looked like some evil spirit as he stood casting a broad shadow on the bed and its occupant. For a moment, he considered what to do, and then he stepped up to the bedside and said:— ‘Give any alarm and you die—be still and you live! Be quiet—quite quiet, for your life’s sake.’ The terrified woman opened her eyes and uttered a faint cry. ‘Yes, ma’m,’ said Kitty from the next room. ‘Curse you!’ cried Blodget. He took a revolver from his pocket, and held it to her head, saying in a calm tone:— ‘If you wish to save your life you will be quiet. It is your jewels, plate, and money I come for, not your life, but if you place it as an obstacle in the way, that obstacle must be removed. You understand me.’ ‘A robber?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘A house-breaker?’ ‘Just so.’ ‘Yes, ma’m,’ said Kitty, blustering into the room with her eyes half shut as before. ‘Did you call me?’ ‘Yes,’ said he, stepping up to her, and placing his hand right over her mouth; and then in her ear he said— ‘Kitty, if you speak one word or utter one scream, or make the least noise, I will cut your throat from ear to ear this moment.’ Kitty stopped short, and looked as if she had been suddenly turned to stone. Blodget placed her in a chair, and catching up a handkerchief, he tied it in her mouth, and round the back of her head, and so on to the back of her chair, like a bit. ‘Now be quiet,’ he said. Kitty sat profoundly still; indeed, her faculties had received such a shock that it would be some time before she’d recover again. The lady sat up in bed. ‘You wretch! What on earth do you want?’ ‘Plate—jewels—money.’ ‘There is my purse on the dressing-table—the plate is in the pantry down stairs.’ ‘And in the little secret cupboard at the back of this bed, you know it is, madam.’ The lady uttered a groan. ‘I will trouble you to get up.’ ‘Oh, no—no!’ ‘But I say, oh, yes—yes. Now if you please.’ Without any further ceremony, Blodget took her by the arms, lifted her out of the bed, and put her on the floor. He then went to the door and cried, in a low tone— ‘Ben!’ ‘I’m coming,’ said Ben, as he entered the room. ‘Keep watch over this lady, Ben.’ ‘Oh, yes.’ ‘And if she tries to get away, or if she gives alarm, you will be so good as to cut her throat, Ben.’ ‘Oh, yes.’