Two eggs and some fruit composed my repast; then I drew another glass of water from my protecting fountain, and drank it.
"At the first swallow, it appeared to me not to have the same taste as in the morning.

Suspicion instantly seized me.

I paused, but I had already drunk half a glass.
"I threw the rest away with horror, and waited, with the dew of fear upon my brow.
"No doubt some invisible witness had seen me draw the water from that fountain, and had taken advantage of my confidence in it, the better to assure my ruin, so coolly resolved upon, so cruelly pursued.
"Half an hour had not passed when the same symptoms began to appear; but as I had only drunk half a glass of the water, I contended longer, and instead of falling entirely asleep, I sank into a state of drowsiness which left me a perception of what was passing around me, while depriving me of the strength either to defend myself or to fly.
"I dragged myself toward the bed, to seek the only defense I had left--my saving knife; but I could not reach the bolster.

I sank on my knees, my hands clasped round one of the bedposts; then I felt that I was lost." Felton became frightfully pale, and a convulsive tremor crept through his whole body.
"And what was most frightful," continued Milady, her voice altered, as if she still experienced the same agony as at that awful minute, "was that at this time I retained a consciousness of the danger that threatened me; was that my soul, if I may say so, waked in my sleeping body; was that I saw, that I heard.

It is true that all was like a dream, but it was not the less frightful.
"I saw the lamp ascend, and leave me in darkness; then I heard the well-known creaking of the door although I had heard that door open but twice.
"I felt instinctively that someone approached me; it is said that the doomed wretch in the deserts of America thus feels the approach of the serpent.
"I wished to make an effort; I attempted to cry out.