unforeseen difficulty came near depriving her of all her courage; the window of the room beneath was not situated directly under the window of her bedroom; there was a wide space between it and the ladder, and when she extended her hand it only encountered the naked wall. [Pg 96] Would she have to go back the way she came and leave her project unaccomplished? Her arms were growing very tired; the murmuring of the Morelle, far down below, was beginning to make her dizzy. Then she broke off bits of plaster from the wall and threw them against Dominique’s window. He did not hear; perhaps he was asleep. Again she crumbled fragments from the wall, until the skin was peeled from her fingers. Her strength was exhausted; she felt that she was about to fall backward into[Pg 97] the stream, when at last Dominique softly raised his sash. [Pg 97] “It is I,” she murmured. “Take me quick; I am about to fall.” Leaning from the window he grasped her and drew her into the room, where she had a paroxysm of weeping, stifling her sobs in order that she might not be heard. Then, by a supreme effort of the will she overcame her emotion. “Are you guarded?” she asked in a low voice. Dominique, not yet recovered from his stupefaction at seeing her there, made answer by simply pointing toward his door. There was a sound of snoring audible on the outside; it was evident that the sentinel had been overpowered by sleep and had thrown himself upon the floor close against the door in such a way that it could not be opened without arousing him. “You must fly,” she continued earnestly. “I came here to bid you fly and say farewell.” But he seemed not to hear her. He kept repeating: [Pg 98] [Pg 98] “What, is it you, is it you? Oh, what a fright you gave me! You might have killed yourself.” He took her hands, he kissed them again and again. “How I love you, Françoise! You are as courageous as you are good. The only thing I feared was that I might die without seeing you again; but you are here, and now they may shoot me when they will. Let me but have a quarter of an hour with you and I am ready.” He had gradually drawn her to him; her head was resting on his shoulder. The peril that was so near at hand brought them closer to each
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