go
out, either in the morning or the afternoon."

"You expect a caller?"

"It is possible someone may come to see me.... If by any chance I have
to go out for a few minutes, to get something or other, I must warn
Jules: he must make the visitor wait: I shall not go far in case..."

"All right! That's settled then, darling. Now, good night, I am going to
my room."

"Good evening, madame, and good night!"

Leaving stout and kindly Madame Bourrat, owner of this private
boarding-house where Elizabeth Dollon had found a refuge, the poor girl,
still with a smile on her pale lips, made her way upstairs, entered her
bedroom, and carefully locked the door. She lit the lamp. Her face now
wore a tragic look: its expression was wild and desperate....

"If only he would come!" she sighed.... "Ah, I am afraid! I am
afraid!... I am terribly afraid!"

Elizabeth stood motionless--a frozen image of fear--all but her eyes:
they were casting terrified glances about her....

And no wonder! Elizabeth was neatness personified, and her room was kept
with exquisite care--but now, everything was in the greatest
disorder.... The drawers of her chest of drawers were piled one on top
of the other in a corner of the room; their contents were thrown down in
heaps a little way off; books had been cast pell-mell on a sofa; a great
wicker trunk, wherein Elizabeth had packed numerous papers belonging to
her brother, was overturned on the floor, the lid open.

Its contents were scattered near--a confused mass of documents and
crumpled papers.

Elizabeth stared about her for a long minute, and again she cried:

"Oh, if only he would come! What is the meaning of all this?..."

She regained her self-control. Her usual expression of serene gravity
returned.

"To go to sleep," she murmured. "That is the best thing--to-morrow will
come more quickly so--and, oh, I am so sleepy, so very, very tired!"

Soon Elizabeth blew out her lamp--darkness reigned in her room.

* * * * *

It was about half-past ten o'clock, and the light in Elizabeth Dollon's
room had been extinguished for some little while, when the front door
of the little house was opened again....

Noiselessly, with infinite precautions, with searching and suspicious
glances, taking care to keep off the gravel of the paths, tip-toeing on
the grass edging the flower beds, where his steps made no sound, a man
left the house and went towards the garden gat