There was yet another in the house who could not sleep, and that was Tom Fool.  He had a strong suspicion that Richard had learned the watchword from his mother, who, like most people desirous of a reputation for superior knowledge, was always looking out for scraps and orts of peculiar information.  In such persons an imagination after its kind has considerable play, and when mother Rees had succeeded, without much difficulty on her own, or sense of risk on her son’s part, in drawing from him the watchword of the week, she was aware in herself of a huge accession of importance; she felt as if she had been intrusted with the keys of the main entrance, and trod her clay floor as if the fate of Raglan was hid in her bosom, and the great pile rested in safety under the shadow of her wings.  But her imagined gain was likely to prove her son’s loss; for, as he reasoned with himself, would Mr. Heywood, now that he knew him for the thief of his mare, persist, upon reflection, in refusing to betray his mother?  If not, then the fault would at once be traced to him, with the result at the very least, of disgraceful expulsion from the marquis’s service.  Almost any other risk would be preferable.

But he had yet another ground for uneasiness.  He knew well his mother’s attachment to young Mr. Heywood, and had taken care she should have no suspicion of the way he was going after leaving her the night he told her the watchword; for such was his belief in her possession of supernatural powers, that he feared the punishment she would certainly inflict for the wrong done to Richard, should it come to her knowledge, even more than the wrath of the marquis.  For both of these weighty reasons therefore he must try what could be done to strengthen Richard in his silence, and was prepared with an offer, or promise at least, of assistance in making his escape.

As soon as the house was once more quiet, he got up, and, thoroughly acquainted with the “crenkles” of it, took his way through dusk and dark, through narrow passage and wide chamber, without encountering the slightest risk of being heard or seen, until at last he stood, breathless with anxiety and terror, at the door of the turret-chamber, and laid his ear against it.

CHAPTER XXXII.

The turret chamber.

When mistress Watson had, as gently as if she had been his mother, bound up Richard’s wounded head, she gave him a composing draught, and sat down by his bedside.  But as soon as she saw it begin to take effect, she withdrew, in the certainty that he would not move for some hours at least.  Although he did fall asleep, however, Richard’s mind was too restless and anxious to yield itself to the natural influence of the potion.  He had given his word to his father that he would ride on the morrow; the morrow had come, and here he was!  Hence the condition which the drug superinduced was rather that of dreaming than sleep, the more valuable element, repose, having little place in the result.