St. George and St. Michael. Volume II

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.

The key was in the lock, and Tom Fool as he listened softly turned / it, then lifted the latch, peeped in, and entered. Richard started / to his elbow, and stared wildly about him. Tom made him an anxious / sign, and, fevered as he was and but half awake, Richard, whether he / understood it or not, anyhow kept silence, while Tom Fool approached / the bed, and began to talk rapidly in a low voice, trembling with / apprehension. It was some time, however, before Richard began to / comprehend even a fragment here and there of what he was saying. / When at length he had gathered this much, that his visitor was / running no small risk in coming to him, and was in mortal dread of / discovery, he needed but the disclosure of who he was, which / presently followed, to spring upon him and seize him by the throat / with a gripe that rendered it impossible for him to cry out, had he / been so minded.