ws were scarcely struck, when the inside blind was opened
and a light appeared through the panes of the outside shutter.

"Ah, ah!" said the listener, "not through doors, but through windows!
Ah, this visit was expected. We shall see the windows open, and the lady
enter by escalade. Very pretty!"

But to the great astonishment of d'Artagnan, the shutter remained
closed. Still more, the light which had shone for an instant
disappeared, and all was again in obscurity.

D'Artagnan thought this could not last long, and continued to look with
all his eyes and listen with all his ears.

He was right; at the end of some seconds two sharp taps were heard
inside. The young woman in the street replied by a single tap, and the
shutter was opened a little way.

It may be judged whether d'Artagnan looked or listened with avidity.
Unfortunately the light had been removed into another chamber; but the
eyes of the young man were accustomed to the night. Besides, the eyes of
the Gascons have, as it is asserted, like those of cats, the faculty of
seeing in the dark.

D'Artagnan then saw that the young woman took from her pocket a white
object, which she unfolded quickly, and which took the form of a
handkerchief. She made her interlocutor observe the corner of this
unfolded object.

This immediately recalled to d'Artagnan's mind the handkerchief which he
had found at the feet of Mme. Bonacieux, which had reminded him of that
which he had dragged from under the feet of Aramis.

"What the devil could that handkerchief signify?"

Placed where he was, d'Artagnan could not perceive the face of Aramis.
We say Aramis, because the young man entertained no doubt that it was
his friend who held this dialogue from the interior with the lady of
the exterior. Curiosity prevailed over prudence; and profiting by the
preoccupation into which the sight of the handkerchief appeared to have
plunged the two personages now on the scene, he stole from his hiding
place, and quick as lightning, but stepping with utmost caution, he ran
and placed himself close to the angle of the wall, from which his eye
could pierce the interior of Aramis's room.

Upon gaining this advantage d'Artagnan was near uttering a cry of
surprise; it was not Aramis who was conversing with the nocturnal
visitor, it was a woman! D'Artagnan, however, could only see enough
to recognize the form of her vestments, not enough to distinguish her
features.

At the same instant the