But in the room it was barely daylight when the sleeper awoke, and sat up, his face expectant.

Something had roused him.

He listened.
His ear, and the habit of vigilance which a life of danger instils, had not deceived him.

There were men moving in the passage; men who shuffled their feet impatiently.

Had Biron returned?
Or had aught happened to him, and were these men come to avenge him?
Count Hannibal rose and stole across the boards to the door, and, setting his ear to it, listened.
He listened while a man might count a hundred and fifty, counting slowly.
Then, for the third part of a second, he turned his head, and his eyes travelled the room.