He would put things straight with his foe before he
slept; he would do it at any sacrifice to his pride. He had conquered
his pride.
He dismounted, threw the bridle over a post, and, going into the garden,
knocked gently at the door. There was no response. He knocked again,
and listened intently. Now he heard a sound-like a smothered cry or
groan. He opened the door quickly and entered. It was dark. In another
room beyond was a light. From it came the same sound he had heard
before, but louder; also there was a shuffling footstep. Springing
forward to the half-open door, he pushed it wide, and met the terror-
stricken eyes of Constantine Jopp--the same look that he had seen at
the theatre when his hands were on Jopp's throat, but more ghastly.
Jopp was bound to a chair by a lasso. Both arms were fastened to the
chair-arm, and beneath them, on the floor, were bowls into which blood
dripped from his punctured wrists.
He had hardly taken it all in--the work of an instant--when he saw
crouched in a corner, madness in his eyes, his half-breed Vigon.
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