As she bent her head to inspect it, she noticed a strange smell and, before she could understand what it meant, the Marquis ordered her in a low voice,
“Put it down! He has saturated it with chloroform. It would have rendered Peter unconscious, then I imagine he would have suffocated him with a pillow.”
Athina gave a cry of horror.
She dropped the towel as the Marquis had told her to do and then she bent forward to look out of the window.
Lord Burnham was obviously finding it very difficult to go back to where he had left his horse.
There was a delay of several minutes before he rode out from the shrubbery and proceeded towards the bridge.
As he did so, Athina became suddenly aware that the Marquis had gone down on one knee.
He was aiming his rifle at Lord Burnham.
It flashed throu
