answered, with a kind of shuddering chuckle, "Her ladyship is past complaining; unlock the door, in the devil's name, unless you're afraid to come in, and help me to lift her out of the window." The key was turned in the lock, the door opened, and my uncle entered the room. I have told you already that I had placed myself under the shade of a projection of the wall, close to the door. I had instinctively shrunk down cowering towards the ground on the entrance of Edward through the window. When my uncle entered the room, he and his son both stood so very close to me that his hand was every moment upon the point of touching my face. I held my breath, and remained motionless as death. "You had no interruption from the next room?" said my uncle. "No," was the brief reply. "Secure the jewels, Ned; the French harpy must not lay her claws upon them. You're a steady hand, by G--d; not much blood--eh?" "Not twenty drops," replied his son, "and those on the quilt." "I'm glad it's over," whispered my uncle again; "we must lift the--the _thing_ through the window, and lay the rubbish over it." They then turned to the bedside, and, winding the bed-clothes round the body, carried it between them slowly to the window, and exchanging a few brief words with some one below, they shoved it over the window-sill, and I heard it fall heavily on the ground underneath. "I'll take the jewels," said my uncle; "there are two caskets in the lower drawer." He proceeded, with an accuracy which, had I been more at ease, would have furnished me with matter of astonishment, to lay his hand upon the very spot where my jewels lay; and having possessed himself of them, he called to his son:-- "Is the rope made fast above?" "I'm no fool; to be sure it is," replied he.