He raised his voice.  In his bearing there was a would-be defiance.  He might not have been aware of it, but the repetitions of the threats were, in themselves, confessions of weakness.  He came a step or two forward,—­then, stopping short, began to tremble.  The perspiration broke out upon his brow; he made spasmodic little dabs at it with his crumpled-up handkerchief.  His eyes wandered hither and thither, as if searching for something which they feared to see yet were constrained to seek.  He began to talk to himself, out loud, in odd disconnected sentences,—­apparently ignoring me entirely.

’What was that?—­It was nothing.—­It was my imagination.—­My nerves are out of order.—­I have been working too hard.—­I am not well.—­What’s that?’

This last inquiry came from him in a half-stifled shriek,—­as the door opened to admit the head and body of an elderly man in a state of considerable undress.  He had the tousled appearance of one who had been unexpectedly roused out of slumber, and unwillingly dragged from bed.  Mr Lessingham stared at him as if he had been a ghost, while he stared back at Mr Lessingham as if he found a difficulty in crediting the evidence of his own eyes.  It was he who broke the silence,—­stutteringly.

’I am sure I beg your pardon, sir, but one of the maids thought that she heard the sound of a shot, and we came down to see if there was anything the matter,—­I had no idea, sir, that you were here.’  His eyes travelled from Mr Lessingham towards me,—­suddenly increasing, when they saw me, to about twice their previous size.  ‘God save us!—­who is that?’

The man’s self-evident cowardice possibly impressed Mr Lessingham with the conviction that he himself was not cutting the most dignified of figures.  At any rate, he made a notable effort to, once more, assume a bearing of greater determination.

’You are quite right, Matthews, quite right.  I am obliged by your watchfulness.  At present you may leave the room—­I propose to deal with this fellow myself,—­only remain with the other men upon the landing, so that, if I call, you may come to my assistance.’

Matthews did as he was told, he left the room,—­with, I fancy, more rapidity than he had entered it.  Mr Lessingham returned to me, his manner distinctly more determined, as if he found his resolution reinforced by the near neighbourhood of his retainers,

’Now, my man, you see how the case stands, at a word from me you will be overpowered and doomed to undergo a long period of imprisonment.  Yet I am still willing to listen to the dictates of mercy.  Put down that revolver, give me those letters,—­you will not find me disposed to treat you hardly.’

For all the attention I paid him, I might have been a graven image.  He misunderstood, or pretended to misunderstand, the cause of my silence.

’Come, I see that you suppose my intentions to be harsher than they really are,—­do not let us have a scandal, and a scene,—­be sensible!—­give me those letters!’