While he pondered thus the Count reappeared, carrying a small bottle in his hand.
"Mr.Denzil," said he, with a ghastly smile, "I have played a bold game, and, thanks to a woman's treachery, I have lost.

I hoped to get twenty thousand pounds and a charming wife; but I have gained nothing but poverty and a chance of imprisonment; but I am of noble birth, and I will not survive my dishonour.

You wish to know who Wrent is--you shall never know." He raised the bottle to his lips before Lucian, motionless with horror, could rush forward, and the next moment Count Ercole Ferruci was lying dead on the floor..