He had just sufficient and not a second more time, for the curtain had not ceased to swing when the magistrate knocked, and without waiting for an answer entered.

He was followed by two soldiers, and these he ordered to wait without the door.
"Your Highness," he said in a polite voice, and stopped abruptly.

It seemed to Wogan behind the curtain that his heart stopped at the same moment and with no less abruptness.

There was no evidence of Clementina's flight to justify that sudden silence.

Then he grew faint, as it occurred to him that he had made Lady Featherstone's mistake,--that his boot protruded into the room.