Half an hour or so later by the light of the setting moon which struggled through a window, I saw the door open and Miss Holmes emerge in a kind of dressing-gown and still wearing the necklace which Harut and Marut had given her.  Of this I was sure for the light gleamed upon the red stones.

Also it shone upon her face and showed me without doubt that she was walking in her sleep.

Gliding as silently as a ghost she crossed the corridor and vanished.  I followed and saw that she had descended an ancient, twisting stairway which I had noted in the castle wall.  I went after her, my stockinged feet making no noise, feeling my way carefully in the darkness of the stair, for I did not dare to strike a match.  Beneath me I heard a noise as of someone fumbling with bolts.  Then a door creaked on its hinges and there was some light.  When I reached the doorway I caught sight of the figure of Miss Holmes flitting across a hollow garden that was laid out in the bottom of the castle moat which had been drained.  The garden, as I had observed when we walked through it on the previous day on our way to the first covert that we shot, was bordered by a shrubbery through which ran paths that led to the back drive of the castle.

Across the garden glided the figure of Miss Holmes and after it went I, crouching and taking cover behind every bush as though I were stalking big game, which indeed I was.  She entered the shrubbery, moving much more swiftly now, for as she went she seemed to gather speed, like a stone which is rolled down a hill.  It was as though whatever might be attracting her, for I felt sure that she was being drawn by something, acted more strongly upon her sleeping will as she drew nearer to it.  For a while I lost sight of her in the shadow of the tall trees.  Then suddenly I saw her again, standing quite still in an opening caused by the blowing down in the gale of one of the avenue of elms that bordered the back drive.  But now she was no longer alone, for advancing towards her were two cloaked figures in whom I recognized Harut and Marut.

There she stood with outstretched arms, and towards her, stealthily as lions stalking a buck, came Harut and Marut.  Moreover, between the naked boughs of the fallen elm I caught sight of what looked like the outline of a closed carriage standing upon the drive.  Also I heard a horse stamp upon the frosty ground.  Round the edge of the little glade I ran, keeping in the dark shadow, as I went cocking the pistol that was in my pocket.  Then suddenly I darted out and stood between Harut and Marut and Miss Holmes.

Not a word passed between us.  I think that all three of us subconsciously were anxious not to awake the sleeping woman, knowing that if we did so there would be a terrible scene.  Only after motioning to me to stand aside, of course in vain, Harut and Marut drew from their robes curved and cruel-looking knives and bowed, for even now their politeness did not forsake them.  I bowed back and when I straightened myself those enterprising Easterns found that I was covering the heart of Harut with my pistol.  Then with that perception which is part of the mental outfit of the great, they saw that the game was up since I could have shot them both before a knife touched me.