Mrs. Lecount tried the door: it was
locked.
As she made that discovery, she saw his head sink back gradually on the
easy-chair in which she had placed him. The warning of the doctors in
past years--"If you ever let him faint, you let him die"--recurred to
her memory as if it had been spoken the day before. She looked at the
cupboard again. In a recess under it lay some ends of cord, placed there
apparently for purposes of packing. Without an instant's hesitation, she
snatched up a morsel of cord, tied one end fast round the knob of
the cupboard door, and seizing the other end in both hands, pulled it
suddenly with the exertion of her whole strength. The rotten wood gave
way, the cupboard doors flew open, and a heap of little trifles poured
out noisily on the floor. Without stopping to notice the broken china
and glass at her feet, she looked into the dark recesses of the cupboard
and saw the gleam of two glass bottles. One was put away at the extreme
back of the shelf, the other was a little in advance, almost hiding it.
She snatched them both out at once, and took them, one in each hand, to
the window, where she could read their labels in the clearer light.
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